


Ignorance

by The_Liability



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Child Death, Flashbacks, Frisk (Undertale) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Frisk (Undertale) Needs a Hug, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Murder, Nightmares, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 40,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21741223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Liability/pseuds/The_Liability
Summary: You're fine you tell yourself, you’ve been through worse, no need to make them worry, and you can almost make yourself believe it.  No, you decide, they can’t know, they WON’T know, the resets are a secret you will take to your grave a million more times if you have to.You don’t want them to remember…but they do.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 108





	1. Prologue: Frisk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok Basic Premise: There was only one timeline, a pacifist run. Frisk did not kill anyone in any timeline. Fisk died a lot, like, a death for virtually every attack they encountered.

You wake up. You feel numb, everything around you distant and far away. Slowly you come to your senses, sensation returning to your limbs slowly accompanied by a dull ache. Your laying down, that much your certain of. Your back is pressed against something cold and hard. The ground maybe? You feel tired, and shaken, like you had just fallen from a great height and your body was left to reorient itself, thrown into disarray by the treacherous hand of gravity. The feeling is familiar, unsettlingly so, it reminds you of a few months ago when-. You sit up in a panic, crying out, your eyes flying open so fast that your head spins. You can’t have reset, you wouldn't have, your heart feels like it’s going to explode out of your chest. You have to do it over! You cant! You CAN’T! not again! you can’t do it all agai-!. You freeze, taking in your surroundings. 

Your sitting on a park bench, the cold metal is soothing against your hands. Your in Newer Home, the new town at the base of mount Ebbot. You relax, your panicked heartbeat slowing as you take in your surroundings in more detail. You recognize where you are, your at one of the bus stops that had been erected on the edge of town. In the days after the towns completion, this place had been perpetually swarmed by eager tourists and reporters, come to see the results of the breaking of the Barrier, to witness myth come to life. The streets of the town are empty, lifeless, the place is deserted. It would be pitch black were it not for the streetlights illuminating the road, not even the houses nearby have any lights in their windows.

You wonder what time it is, reaching for your phone to check. Your brow furrows as you come up empty handed, it seems your phone is missing. Getting off the bench you look around. You don't know how you got here, or why your here after dark, but you need to get home. However you got here, you doubt Toriel would be thrilled to find you missing. Setting off down the road you begin the trek to your house a few blocks away. 

The longer you walk the more unsettled you become, why is the town so quiet? Judging by the stars overhead you can guess that it is pretty late, but that doesn't explain the utter silence that hangs over the town like a shroud. Even amongst monsters, there are many who prefer the night life, and there should be some sign of life, but there isn't, not even the glow of a lamp in a window, nothing.

You quicken your pace, your worry increasing, you practically sprint the last block to your house, taking the front steps two at a time. Approaching the door, you try the handle and it proves to be unlocked. You tense, stepping inside, and flicking the switch by the door, nothing happens.

“Mom!?” you call, your voice echoing throughout the room “Hello?”. Growing distraught you try the switch again, and immediately wish you hadn't. The lights turn on, and illuminate the horrible display before you. 

The living room is trashed, furniture thrown haphazardly around the room. The walls sport signs of damage, scorch marks, tears, and holes. In several places bones and glowing blue spears jut from the walls and ceiling. But none of this is what captures your attention, rather what grasps every ounce of your mind and fills you with unfathomable horror is the floor.

Corpses, resting in a sea of blood and severed limbs cover the floor of the room. Bodies dismembered, eviscerated, stabbed, burnt, crushed, frozen, and pounded to pulp fill almost every inch of the space, and each and every one of them has your face. These are your bodies, your limbs, your mutilated cadavers, left by death after death, load after load, memories that you desperately wish you could forget fill your mind. You open your mouth to scream, but are interrupted by three glowing red prongs jutting from your chest, piercing your heart and lungs and filling your mouth with blood. You cough, letting out a hoarse, broken croak in place of the scream that filled your throat moments before. As you slump to the ground, vision filling up with shadows and mind filling up with pain, you idly wonder what number death this is, you can't remember, you lost count around three hundred. 

  
You wake up with a shout. Small hands clutching desperately at your chest, searching for the wounds that were there just moments before. You choke back a sob, every night, every night that same dream. You try desperately to steady your breathing, your heartbeat loud in your ears. Looking for something to distract you from your fear your eyes search around your room.

It's a simple affair, walls painted blue with a single yellow stripe around the room, blue curtains closed against the world, a few drawings hung up above the desk in the corner. Finally your eyes come to rest at the foot of the bed, on a small jack skellington plush that rests at your feet, Papyrus had gotten it for you a few weeks ago for the first Halloween on the surface, and it had rapidly become a familiar source of comfort from your night terrors. You lunge forward, snatching up the plushy and squeezing it to your chest, letting out a small shuddering breath as you bury your face in it. It's not as comforting as Toriel's hugs, but you can't tell her about your nightmares without telling her what they are about and she wouldn't understand. You don't want her to understand.

Calming down you get out of bed, and make your way out into the hall. Not far from your door is a mirror and you make your way to it. You take time to inspect your reflection, your bloodshot eyes and the bags beneath them the only outward indication of your suffering. You take a deep breath.   
Your getting worried, the nightmares are getting more and more frequent. Your afraid to go to sleep lest you be confronted by visions of death and blood. It's getting to the point where all of your friends are taking notice, they’ve been acting stranger and stranger around you as time goes on. If only you could tell them what plagues you, but you can't. You refuse to burden them with the truth. 

Your fine you tell yourself, you’ve been through worse, no need to make them worry, and you can almost make yourself believe it. You can't tell them, you can't afford for them to know. You don't want them to know, it would break them. They would hate you, they would fear you if they knew that you could take away this happy ending of theirs with the press of a button, if they knew that you could send them all careening back down into their prison. No, you decide, they can’t know, they WON’T know, the resets are a secret you will take to your grave a million more times if you have to.

You don’t want them to remember…but they do.


	2. Chapter 1: Toriel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins.

Toriel woke up, light streaming from between the blinds directly onto her previously restful face. She blinked sleepily, letting out a yawn as she sits up in bed. She gazed around the room for a moment, studying her surroundings as she blinked the sleep from her eyes and prepared to face the day. She froze, her attention drawn to her arm. She studied it curiously, bringing one of her paws up to touch the scratches that had appeared down the length of her forearm, leaking a small trickle of dust onto the sheets below. “Odd” she murmured to herself “I must have scratched myself in my sleep” she sighed “I suppose that it is time that I trim my claws once more” she thought, her brow furrowing in anticipation of the inevitable and unpleasant task. One quick application of healing magic later and the scratches on her arm all but vanished. She rose to get dressed.

Opening her wardrobe she briefly considered what to wear before settling on a pair of loose fitting pants and a cyan cardigan. She often missed the traditional robes she would wear back in the underground but she had been trying to adapt to life on the surface, and that meant wearing more modern garments. 

Exiting her room she began her usual morning routine by checking on the young human child asleep in the room just down the hall from hers. Gently easing the door to their room open she poked her head into the bedroom and peeked at the slumbering child within. Frisk was sleeping soundly, for once, their chest rising and falling with their shallow tired breaths. She had no idea why seeing her child lying so still put her so ill at ease, made her want to rush into the room and scoop them up into her arms and never let them out of her sight again. Her brow furrowed, there it was again, the feeling that there's something lurking in her mind, just out of sight, something important that she was missing, perhaps left over from whatever dream that had left her bleeding dust onto her sheets.

Toriel gently closed the door to her child's room, electing to let them sleep in. It was a Saturday after all and they hadn't been getting enough sleep lately, though they tried to hide it, she could tell. She made her way through the living room, stopping to gaze out the window at the endless world beyond, a sight she had not enjoyed since before the war. 

Making her way into the kitchen, she decided that eggs would do for breakfast. A fireball appeared over her shoulder and snaked its way through the air, coming to rest above the burner on the stove. Fishing out a frying pan from a nearby drawer, she placed it on the stove before retrieving several eggs from the refrigerator. Cracking them into the skillet she turned her attention to making toast, and by the time it was in the toaster the eggs were done. Dividing the eggs between two plates she heard a small yawn from behind her. “Good morning my child!” Toriel said, turning to face a sleepy eyed Frisk making their way into the kitchen, their socked feet padding quietly across the hardwood towards her. “G’morning mom” they said, fighting back another yawn and wrapping their arms around her legs in a hug.

  
“Did you have a good night's rest my child?” Toriel asked,, gently smoothing their bed-head ridden hair away from their face. An indiscernible expression crossed their face before they wiped it away with a smile and nodded. “I am glad” she said, “I made eggs.”,she pointed to where the now full plates lay next to the stove. Frisk gave a happy hum and made their way towards the plates. Stopping by the counter, they gave the fireball over the stove a wary glance before taking the plates and making their way to the table where Toriel had already seated herself.

After breakfast, Frisk was quick to get dressed and rush outside to play with their friends, getting their jacket’s zipper stuck in their haste. Toriel chuckled softly at the eager display, crossing the room and placing a fuzzy paw on their shoulder, intending to help them get their zipper unstuck. Frisk let out a yelp, spinning quickly around, and accidentally falling on their rear, crawling backwards a few feet before their expression cleared and they stood up. “My child-” Toriel began, “Oops, haha, sorry I must still be waking up” Frisk laughed nervously, “Igottago-loveyou-bye” they stammered quickly before rushing out the door, leaving a shocked Toriel in their wake.

“That was rather odd” Toriel thought, “I wonder why they reacted like that.”. There was that feeling again, that feeling like she should know something but didn’t. And that expression on Frisk’s face, she could have sworn that they almost seemed...afraid? Toriel sighed, before grabbing her purse and leaving the house.

Later that day, after running several errands and checking up on some of the other monsters who were still getting settled into their new homes, Toriel found herself walking through the local park. The park had been one of the first things erected when the town had been built, a place where monsters and humans alike could go to experience nature. The park was furnished with a variety of flowerbeds and trees, many of which had been transplanted from around the nation to allow the newly freed monsters to experience flora from all over without having to travel. Her surroundings were nothing short of beautiful but Toriel found herself unable to appreciate it as she reflected on the events of earlier that morning. 

  
She thought of Frisk, how they had seemed so… so afraid of her when she placed her hand on their shoulder. While someone being startled by someone creeping up on them was far from out of the ordinary she felt a deep sense of unease as she replayed the events that transpired in her mind. 

It was far from the first time Frisk had reacted in such a way around her, they always seemed to be on edge, even when they tried to convince themselves and others otherwise. They always seemed so wary and cautious whenever she or the others used their magic, often staying as far away from it as possible as if they were afraid that something terrible would happen to them if they got too close. She recalled the first time she had used fire magic after getting to the surface. They had just moved into their new home and she had decided that it would be a good night to read by the fire. She had just conjured a fireball to light the fireplace when Frisk had walked into the room. Upon seeing the orb of flame they had all but completely shut down, their eyes staring off into space as if seeing something else entirely. They had stayed like that until she gently shook their shoulder, whereupon they had reacted almost identically to how they had reacted that morning, stumbling back, an expression of fear twisting their young face.

  
Toriel knew that her child had their secrets. She knew that they knew things she didn't, and that they seemed terrified of anyone finding out about those things, but she never pushed them to open up, content to allow them to come to her if they saw fit. Sighing Toriel looked around her, at the trees and the flowers, and the sun overhead, but she could swear that the world seemed much less bright with the knowledge of how little she truly knew of what plagued her child.

\--------------------------------

  
_“Please stop!” the child begged, tears streaming down their face. “Agh!” they yelped as a fireball glanced their elbow, the fabric of their jumper melding to the soft flesh beneath it as the strands were heated by the flames. “It Hurts!” they yelled leaping to narrowly avoid another barrage of fire. “Please!” they whimpered as the former queen looked through them not seeing them at all. “Don’t-” the child was cut off as a stray fireball hit their head. Immediately their hair was set ablaze, and the hallway was drowned in their screams of agony. The noise snapped the queen out of her trance and she reached towards the child with a horrified expression as they rolled about on the floor, futilely trying to put out the magical flames that ate away at their flesh. “The child's screams devolved into shrieks of pure terror and pain as the flames spread to engulf the entirety of their small body, their cries seeming to fill the whole world. Toriel desperately tried to put out the flames, but it was too late. The child's screams became softer and softer, eventually devolving into pitiful whimpers and then silence. The crimson glow that shone from within their chest died, seeming to cast the whole world into darkness as the former queen clutched their tiny charred body to her chest. The queen let out her grief as the world was consumed in a flash of bright light and the clock was turned back once more._

  
Toriel woke with a start. She clutched her chest in horror as lost memories returned to her in full force. Frisk burnt to a crisp, laying in a pool of their own blood. The queen sobbed softly muffling the noise beneath her paws. “Just a dream” she repeated to herself, “just a dream just a dream just a dream j-j-just a-a d-drea-am” she chanted, forcing her heart to steady. She let out a sob, “it was just a dream” she thought, but...it had just felt so...so real. she could still hear their screams echoing in her ears, still see their broken body when she blinked. 

  
Toriel shakily got out of bed, the clock on the wall said it was a little past one in the morning. Making her way into the living room, she lit the fireplace and collapsed into her armchair, staring out the window. Whether it was a dream or not, one thing was for absolute certain, she would not be getting back to sleep any time soon. 


	3. Chapter 2: Undyne

“NYAAAAAGH!” Undyne shouted as she woke, leaping out of bed and doing a somersault before her feet hit the floor, bringing a glowing blue spear down on the ringing alarm clock resting by her bed and spraying her face with shards of broken plastic. Undyne blinked in confusion as she looked around her room. Her eyes scanned the space, passing over the giant sword in the corner, her dresser, and coming to rest on the outdoors glimpsed through the window. She fought to keep a big goofy grin from spreading across her face, even after nearly six months on the surface she still found it hard to believe that they had made it. Despite herself, however, she felt a twinge of disappointment as she recalled her now abandoned dream. “Damn” she muttered “I was just getting to the good part too.”. 

Getting dressed, she made her way out of way out of her room and into the house she shared with Alphys. The house was larger than most of the houses in Newer Home, mostly to facilitate Alphy’s occasional mad scientist urges (but also to incorporate a sprinkler system to keep the place from burning down). Making her way into the kitchen, she pressed a few buttons on the automated breakfast machine that Alphys had built after she had somehow managed to burn cereal and sat down at the nearby table. 

A few minutes later a sleep-deprived Alphys made her way into the kitchen mumbling under her breath. “D-do you a-always have to s-scream when you wake up?” Alphys asked with a scowl “I-I was just g-getting to the good p-part too, remind m-me to soundproof your r-room next weekend.” she muttered. Undyne simply let out a guffaw in response and attempted to crush the lizard monster to death in a bear hug. After setting the now furiously blushing scientist back on her feet, the two ate mostly in silence, occasionally asking the other about their plans for the day and receiving mostly one or two word responses, it being nearly impossible to hold a conversation when one of the participants was half asleep. 

After finishing breakfast, Alphys headed out to her job at a university in a nearby city while Undyne set about cleaning up. As she placed the dishes in the dishwasher, she was interrupted by the phone on a nearby wall beginning to ring. Surprised, Undyne made her way to the phone, the fact that someone had called their house phone meant that it was likely either Toriel, or Asgore, them being the only ones in town old-fashioned enough to still use them with any sort of frequency. 

Picking up the phone she was greeted by Toriel's voice on the other end. “Hello Undyne, how are you this morning?” she asked. “Sup your majesty?” Undyne said “I'm doing pretty good, how are you and the shortstack holding up?”. There was a pause on the other end of the line before Toriel finally responded “we are doing quite well, but I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor?” “Sure” said Undyne “what do you need”. “I was wondering if you could watch Frisk for me today?” the queen said, “I hope I am not intruding but there is some last minute business that I have to attend to at the school today and I will unfortunately not be able to get home until around supper time.”. “Sure!” the fish women replied, “I’ll head right up”. Toriel let out a sigh of...relief? “Thank you very much for this Undyne, you have no idea how much this means to me.” Undyne raised a brow at the queens unusual tone but chose not to comment. “Anytime” she said. 

After bidding Torel goodbye, Undyne returned to her room to get dressed. Throwing on a pair of rugged jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, she swept the broken remains of the alarm clock into the pile in the corner and put a new one on her bedside table from her stash underneath her bed. Back downstairs, she pulled on her boots by the door followed by a jacket and began the walk down the road towards the house that Toriel and Frisk shared.

In no time at all, she was walking up the front porch to the adorable little cottage, and knocking on the door hard enough to shake it on its foundation. The door flew open and she was immediately assaulted by a tiny child projectile as Frisk leapt up and wrapped their arms around her in a hug. “Hi Undyne!” the human child chirped “What are you doing here?”. Undyne guffawed and answered “wassup squirt? Your mom has some stuff she’s gotta do at the school today and she asked me to keep an eye on you. Who’s ready for some quality BESTIE Time!?”. Undyne twisted the child around in her arms and began to give them a noogie. “Nooooooo!” Frisk yelled in mock horror as they twisted out of her hold, running to hide behind Toriel who had come to investigate the noise and was now standing in the doorway.

“Hello Undyne.” she said “Thank you once again for agreeing to watch Frisk today.”. “No problem Tori- woah, you look like Shi-” Undyne’s eye flicked to the child peeking out from behind Toriel’s legs “uh crap, you look like crap.”. Toriel’s fur was unruly and there were bags beneath her eyes, her clothes were wrinkled and she held herself tensely, her eyes occasionally darting about. Tiredly she massaged her muzzle and smoothed the front of her shirt before responding. “Yes, I am sorry for my appearance, I am afraid I did not get much sleep last night. Undyne let out a laugh, starting to understand the real reason why Toriel had called, “Don’t worry, I'm used to it, Alphys has a habit of burning the candle at both ends too.”. Turning her attention back to the human child Undyne said “So punk, you ready to go?” Frisk reluctantly nodded and turned to give their mother a hug. An odd expression crossed Toriel's face and she lifted a paw to muss their hair, hesitating a moment before lowering it and returning the hug. “You will b-be good for Undyne today won’t you my child?” she asked “Mm-hmm” Frisk hummed, an indescribable expression crossing their face at their mothers odd behavior before they smiled and relinquished the embrace, walking over to stand next to Undyne. After bidding each other farewell, Frisk and Undyne left the house and began the walk back to Undyne’s residence.   
Undyne and Frisk walked in silence, the fish woman keeping a low gait so that the child could keep up with her. As they walked, Undyne thought back to her encounter with Toriel. She had never seen the ex queen look so on edge, and her hesitance around Frisk, what was up with that? Toriel had always been overly cautious and protective, but the way she had been acting it was like she was afraid that if she touched them or even looked at them for too long that they would shatter like glass. Undyne turned to ask Frisk if they knew anything about Toriel's behavior, but stopped when she saw the child staring blankly off into space, buried in thoughts of their own. Undyne wasn't sure why, but there was something about the look on Frisk's face that made her deeply uncomfortable, they looked worried, understandably so, but also...scared? Undyne shook her head as they approached her house and entered. Frisk? Scared? The idea was preposterous, the kid had faced her down after all, what could scare them? 

Taking off her jacket and helping Frisk out of her own she decided that she needed to change the subject to distract her from her thoughts and break Frisk out of the funk they seemed to be caught in. “So punk! What do you wanna do?” Frisk still seemed out of it so she decided to give them some suggestions to help them along. “We could practice cooking?” “Maybe some sparring?” “Or we could just watch some anime! Alphys just showed my this new one with giant robots and cannons and explosions!”. Frisk shrugged “I’m fine with whatever you want to do.” they said. “Fuhuhuhu” Undyne laughed, “Cooking it is!” 

It took around five minutes for the kitchen to catch fire.

They both agreed that maybe they should take it easy and just marathon some anime instead.

Undyne entered the living room, toweling off her hair which was wet from when the sprinkler system went off and plopped down on the couch next to Frisk. “Your not gonna tell your mom about this you hear!” she said, Frisk fought back a giggle “are you kidding? I’d never get to come over again!”. Undyne chuckled and leaned back, looking at the child beside her when she froze. Frisk had a large ugly burn on the back of their hand. “Whoa dude!” she said “Your hurt! Why didn't you say something?”. The child raised their hand to look at the burn, they looked surprised, “Huh I didn’t even notice”. That statement made Undyne deeply uncomfortable for a reason she couldn't immediately identify, Frisk was tough, certainly, but that burn had to be painful, it was second degree at least. Undyne frowned and raised her hand, a green light shining from between her fingers. “Here, let me see that” Frisk recoiled slightly at the sight of the magic but extended their hand to her. “Jeez” she muttered as she began to heal them, “how’d you not notice something like this?”. “-se’d to some things after a while” Undyne looked up, “sorry what was that?” Frisk looked panicked “uh nothing,” they said. Undyne was skeptical but didn't push the issue. 

The day passed by uneventfully after that and eventually there was a knock at the door. “Hello Undyne.” Toriel greeted when the door was opened, “ I trust you two had a good day?” Undyne laughed and replied “yeah the squirt was really well behaved, not that I would expect anything less from that weenie!”. Toriel gave a strained laugh, and ruffled Frisk’s hair when they came over to greet her. “That is good” she said, “Thank you again for agreeing to watch them”. “Like I would ever pass up the opportunity to spend time with my BESTIE!” Undyne crowed and Toriel smiled. “In any case we must now take our leave, come along my child.”. “Bye Undyne!” Frisk said, giving her a quick hug goodbye before following their mother out the door and down the street. Undyne gave them a smile and a wave from the doorway before closing it and letting the strained grin slide off her face. Despite her attempts to act like everything was alright Toriel had seemed just as stressed and unwell as she had that morning. There was clearly something bothering the goat like monster, she seemed weighed down, and it was difficult to attribute this to a mere lack of sleep. She seemed hesitant around Frisk, Toriel was always cheerful and loving, practically smothering her child in affection, but today she seemed distant, like her mind was somewhere else. Shaking her head Undyne pushed the thought from her mind

  
\--------------------------

_The human lay broken on the floor. Undyne panted heavily, staring down at the dying child before her. Their body was littered with wounds, including a large puncture wound right in the center of their stomach. The child sobbed softly as they did their best to curl into a ball, letting out a whimper of pain as the movement agitated their wounds. Looking down at the pitiful creature before her Undyne felt conflicted. This wasn’t what it was supposed to be like, she had pictured an epic battle, a human warrior and the captain of the guard in an honorable duel to decide the fate of the world. Not this… this broken, crying creature that lay dying before her. She felt a twinge of guilt as she stared down at the human, they hadn’t even fought back, just pleading with her as she ran them through and they crumpled into a sobbing mess. Undyne sighed, the human needed to die, that much was certain, but in hindsight she wished that there was another way. It was too late though, even if she wanted to save them their injuries were far beyond the ability of healing magic to fix. She came to a decision, letting this go on any longer would just be cruel. The captain of the guard brought her spear down on the human child’s head, killing them instantly. Death was the only mercy she could offer them now._

Undyne woke with a start. That dream, what was that? It had felt so… so _real_? But that never happened! She’d never killed Frisk! If she had she wouldn’t be here! Undyne let out a shuddering breath as she tried futilly to calm down. “Just a dream” she said to herself, “it was just a dream.” but then why did she feel so guilty? Undyne froze, slowly raising a hand to touch below her eye. Was she...crying?! She didn’t cry! She was the captain of the Royal Guard for heaven's sake! But as she tried to deny the evidence of her eyes more tears came, and she began to sob quietly into her hands. 


	4. Chapter 3: Papyrus

_The human attempted to spare him again. Papyrus reluctantly declined the humans offer of friendship once more and sent another wave of bones hurtling towards them. Papyrus shivered, the fight was going on longer than he had expected, the bone cologne he had dabbed behind where his ears should be had begun to freeze to him. The human leapt to avoid a pair of bones that closed in on them from either side, before being bowled over by a larger one that came racing towards them from their front. The human toppled into the snow, letting out a pained wheeze before going still. “NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus cackled as he scooped their body out of the snow, “YOU'RE WEAK! IT WAS EASY FOR ME TO CAPTURE YOU!”. The unconscious human shivered in his arms and curled into his chest, their hands clutching his scarf in tiny fists. Papyrus looked down at them with a concerned expression before shaking his head and setting off towards the ‘CAPTURE ZONE!’._

Papyrus snapped awake and reached over to sleepily paw at his MTT brand alarm clock. Sitting up he stretched his nonexistent muscles and leapt out of bed, his ‘Battle-Body’ creaking slightly from the strain. Nyeh’ing softly to himself he entered the bathroom connected to his room and set about his morning routine.

Swishing listerine around in his mouth and dumping some on his head he thought back to his now abandoned dream. He had never captured Frisk in the underground, the human having proven themselves to be his equal in all things puzzle and pasta related that day. Papyrus shook his head, it was probably just a side effect of his cooking, it was so great it always gave him the weirdest dreams. 

Exiting the bathroom, he threw on his usual gloves and scarf and exited his bedroom. Entering the hall Papyrus immediately gave a huff of indignation. Sans was asleep on the floor in the hallway, having read him his bedtime story he had apparently decided that he was unable to walk to his bedroom and had simply fallen asleep right on the carpet. Papyrus shook his head, it was far too early to deal with his brother’s ‘shin’anigans (NYEH). Hoisting the smaller skeleton over his shoulder, Papyrus deposited him in his disaster of a bed and made his way downstairs. 

After heating up a portion of breakfast spaghetti Papyrus looked at the clock on the wall, it was around two thirty in the morning, Papyrus scowled, he had slept a whole three hours last night, if he wasn't careful he might start falling asleep everywhere like Sans, “NOT LIKELY” he said to himself. Finishing his meal and using magic to hover the plate into the absurdly tall sink, he made his way into the living room and sat down on the couch, deciding to watch some tv before heading out for his early morning training with Undyne. As Papyrus listened to the odd hum of his favorite channel, he found himself nodding off.

_Papyrus approached his house with the unconscious human, Sans was leaning against the side of the shed. “BROTHER!” Papyrus cried “I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY CAPTURED THE HUMAN!”. Sans looked up in surprise and looked at his brothers excited face before his eyelights shot down to the small form in his arms. “Huh” he said, “nice goin bro”. Papyrus opened the shed (CAPTURE ZONE!) and deposited the human in the dog bed on the other side of the bars. “I HOPE THE HUMAN LIKES THEIR ACCOMMODATIONS” he said “DOGGO WAS VERY KIND TO SELL HIS OLD BED TO ME”. Sans followed his brother and stood beside him, looking down at the human. “Jeez bro, that was some fight” “YES” Papyrus replied “THEY WERE MOST VALIANT, BUT VICTORY GOES TO THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”. Papyrus turned from his brother to look at the unconscious human child, scanning their face before he froze. “SANS?” he said “yeah bro?” “WHAT IS THAT RED STUFF COMING OUT OF THEIR NOSE? YOU DIDN'T FEED THE HUMAN KETCHUP DID YOU?”. “Nah bro that's not ketchup” Sans replied after a tense moment, “its blood”. “BLUE-D?” Papyrus asked, “WHAT IS BLUE-D?”. “Y'know how monsters shed dust when they're hurt?” Sans asked, “humans shed blood.”. “OH!” Papyrus exclaimed “WELL, THE HUMAN BEING HURT WILL SIMPLY NOT DO! THEY MUST BE IN SHIP SHAPE FOR THEIR AUDIENCE WITH THE KING!” Papyrus bent over, a green light shining from between his phalanges as he healed the human. “THERE” Papyrus said, “GOOD AS NEW! NOW IF YOU’LL EXCUSE ME BROTHER, I MUST GO MEET UNDYNE FOR MY DAILY REPORT!”. Papyrus leapt out of the window, sticking the landing and racing off down the snow-covered road. “Heh…” Sans said to the unconscious human as he walked out the door “aint my bro just the coolest?”._

Papyrus was shaken awake by a bony hand, he blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked up to see Sans wiping a tear of pride from his eye socket. “bro“ he said “you fell asleep.” Papyrus scowled “WHAT? NO I DIDNT I WAS JUST RESTING MY EYES!” Papyrus jumped off the couch and made a show of running around to show how awake he was “I'm so proud” Sans said “at this rate your gonna be taking eight hour naps every night just like me!”. Papyrus let out a scream of frustration and stomped his foot, “DO NOT BE RIDICULOUS SANS THIS WAS A FLUKE AND NOTHING MORE!” Sans simply chuckled at his brothers display of frustration. Papyrus sighed, calming down from his rage. Looking at the time he started and began to clutch his skull. “I’M GOING TO BE LATE FOR MY TRAINING WITH UNDYNE!” Sans laughed “taking naps AND being late for stuff? This is a dream come true.” Sans wiped away another tear, “Now all you gotta do is start making puns and your conversion to the dark side will be complete!” Papyrus screamed once more and leapt out the window, doing a barrel roll before hitting the ground and sprinting down the street towards Undyne’s house. “heh “ Sans said to no one in particular “isn't my bro just the coolest?”. 

As Papyrus hurtled down the road to Undyne’s house he hoped that he made it in time. He was never late for anything, it was a point of pride for the tall skeleton, along with everything else.

He approached the front door to the large house that Undyne and Alphys shared and knocked on the front door. After a moment of waiting Undyne answered. “HELLO UNDYNE!” “HOW ARE YOU THIS FINE DAY? I HAVE COME TO ATTEND MY DAILY TRAINING SESSION!”, “Oh hey Papyrus” she said, massaging the bridge of her nose tiredly “good to see you.”. “UNDYNE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Papyrus asked. The fish woman did not seem her usual energetic self, her eye was tinged red and she was slightly hunched over, as if there was a weight on her shoulders. “WAIT!” Papyrus cried “HAVE YOU BEEN- CRYING???” Undyne snapped to attention at that, ”WHAT!? CRYING!? Are you CRAZY! I don't cry! CMERE!” Undyne grabbed the skeleton and immediately began giving him the noogie of a lifetime. “NOOGIE OF EMOTIONAL STABILITY!!!” she hollered as Papyrus desperately fought to get out of her hold, “THIS DOES NOT SEEM LIKE A VERY STABLE THING TO DO!” he yelled.   
Eventually Undyne released her hold on the skeleton, “That’ll teach you to talk like that to me!” she crowed as Papyrus wobbled around attempting to sort out his spinning head. “Y-YES UNDYNE” he gasped, finally finding his equilibrium and catching his breath. Having taught her bony friend a lesson, Undyne invited him inside. 

“Now who's ready for some BONDING TIME!” she yelled, yanking him into the kitchen. “I AM” Papyrus said, saluting diligently. “GOOD! First put the water in the pot!” Papyrus retrieved a pot from under the disappointingly short sink and threw several bottled waters into it with excessive force. “NOW! The noodles!” Papyrus tossed two boxes of spaghetti noodles in the pot, packaging and all. “Sauce time!” Undyne crowed, setting several tomatoes on the counter before him. “NYEH!” Papyrus hollered, bringing his bony fists down on the counter and obliterating the tomatoes, spraying red everywhere. “HOW WAS THAT?” Papyrus asked, turning to face Undyne when he stopped abruptly. Undyne’s eye was glassy, staring off into space as if seeing something else. Undyne stared at her hands and her front which had been sprayed with the tomato juice along with everything else, and her shoulders began to shake. Concerned, Papyrus put a hand on her shoulder, “ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” he asked. Undyne shook as if startled and quickly wiped away the tears that had begun to form in her eye. “What? Oh! Yeah! I'm fine!” Papyrus wasn't convinced, “L-let's just get back to the lesson.” Undyne said. Papyrus chose not to push the issue, but as the day went on he could have sworn that she seemed even more weighed down than before. 

  
\--------------------------

_Papyrus Nyeh-d happily as he returned to snowdin and approached the ‘CAPTURE ZONE!’. Sans was standing outside. “HELLO BROTHER!” Papyrus greeted as he approached “I HAVE RETURNED! HOW IS THE HUMAN DOING? HAVE THEY WOKEN UP YET?”. “Dunno bro.” Sans said “didn’t check, I was too busy eating second lunch”. Papyrus growled in frustration, “I SWEAR IF THE HUMAN ESCAPED WHILE YOU WERE ON BREAK!”. “Relax bro.” Sans said, “I'm sure everything's fine.” “NO THANKS TO YOU BROTHER!”. Papyrus unlocked and opened the door. “SANS?” he asked, “ARE HUMANS SUPPOSED TO BE BLUE?”. The human lay on the ground in front of the door, curled into a ball, their lips and face were tinged blue with cold and they lay extremely still, The inside of the door had scratch marks on it from the human’s desperate attempts to escape and seek warmth. “What’d you mean blu-” San’s eyelights went out, “ **oh** ”. “SANS? WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM? WHY AREN'T THEY MOVING?” “bro I-” Sans began before closing his eyes and sighing. “They must've fallen asleep, here lemme see em”. Sans took the human from Papyrus’s arms. “I'm gonna take em to the inn to get warmed up” he said “don't worry I'll make sure they don't go anywhere. “A-ALRIGHT BROTHER, BUT BE SURE TO GIVE THE HUMAN MY REGARDS WHEN THEY WAKE UP!” “sure thing bro” Sans muttered. As the smaller skeleton and the ‘sleeping’ human child went off into the woods, Papyrus tried not to question why his brother had taken a shovel with him. _

Papyrus woke up. For some reason he didn't feel so great anymore.


	5. Chapter 4: Asgore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter this time, more of an interlude than anything.

Sunlight filtered through thin branches, coming to rest upon a bed of gold. Asgore hummed quietly, absorbed in the simple repetitive task of tending the plants in his backyard. Golden flowers of course were everywhere. The old king had been hesitant to include the plants in his garden, the monsters were on the surface now and as such it was a time for new beginnings, but the former kind had found himself unable to part with them. The flowers were a part of his past, and his past was a part of him, like it or not. 

Even so, the flowers were far from the only plants that adorned the modest but beautiful garden behind his cabin. The corner of the clearing was covered in plants of various types, from daisies to oak trees to even a lone cactus in a small isolated corner, a gift courtesy of Undyne. The king attended all the subjects of his little floral kingdom equally, each plant was watered and pruned and weeded and in some cases harvested in its own time. Eventually however Asgore always found himself tending to the large patch of golden flowers at the center of the clearing. He had to, he could not bring himself to let them wither. Tending the other plants was calming, as slow methodical task that helped clear his mind and steady his soul. The golden flowers on the other hand were a different matter. Whenever Asgore found himself tending to the bed of gold he felt nearly drowned in memories, many were good, others were more… unpleasant. 

_“Please!” the human begged, scrambling to evade the inferno that pursued them “I don't want to fight!”. The king’s hands shook, betraying his true desires. The human was less than successful at dodging the next wave of flames as a fireball clipped their ankle sending them sprawling on the ground. “You’ve already killed me more times than I can count.” the human said softly, stifling a whimper as the king drew near, his weapon raised for the killing blow. The humans scream was cut off as the prongs of the trident pierced their stomach, tearing their life from their tiny body. “I am sorry human.” the king said, his face holding a grimace of untold grief. tThe human murmured something but was cut off by a pained cough that sent red spilling down their lips. “N-xt ti-me.”. The king looked at them in confusion, but did not ask what they meant. With a choked sob he raised his weapon to end their pain._

Asgore pulled himself from his reverie as the watering can ran empty. He briefly pondered if he should refill it before deciding that the bed before him had drunk its fill. He made his way over to the small shed by his cabin and replaced the can before making his way inside. 

Asgore shut the back door as gently as his massive frame would allow before making his way into the kitchen. He considered making a pot of tea but ultimately decided against it, settling for a glass of lemonade. The king was interrupted by the sound of a car outside of his cabin and looked out the window to see Undyne’s blue hummer pulling into the gravel driveway. Undyne got out of the car with a huff and closed the door with slightly more than the usual amount of excessive force. Asgore sighed, it seemed he would be having tea after all.   
\-----------------------------------------

“So” Asgore said with a thoughtful hum, “If I understand correctly you have been having nightmares.”. Undyne nodded, “And,” Asgore continued “Upon talking to Papyrus you found that he had been having similar ones.”. Undyne sighed “I know I sound crazy here Asgore but its been non stop for the past week, every time I fall asleep I keep having these vivid dreams that just feel so real and Papyrus has them too.”. Undyne continued “Every dream is so similar, its my fight with Frisk, or one of the times I ambushed them in waterfall. And things happen like normal until the end where they slip up or I surprise them with an attack and they…” “Die” Asgore said softly and Undyne leaned back in her seat staring at the ceiling “Y-yeah”. “Undyne I don't want to offend you but have you considered that these dreams are just that, dreams? Perhaps you are looking back on your actions and realizing that you are not proud of all of them and these dreams are a result of that?”. 

Undyne huffed irritably and looked at Asgore once more. “I have” she said slowly, “but that doesn't explain why Papyrus is having these dreams too.”she sighed “I had bad intentions when I attacked Frisk. I’ll be the first to admit that, but Papyrus never tried to kill them, only capture them, they were never in any danger with him.”. Undyne straightened and looked Asgore in the eye. “For Papyrus to be having these dreams, and to start having them at almost the exact same time as I did, there must be something more going on here.”. 

Asgore thought back to dreams of his own. He had been having nightmares similar to what Undyne had described for some time now, but had always just attributed them to be the result of guilt and stress. He always had dreams of the fallen humans, but now that he considered it, it was strange that he dreamt of fighting Frisk, he never even got to, seeing as Toriel had intervened before it could happen. 

Asgore went to take a sip from the teacup that he held in his massive paws before a thought occurred to him and he put it down. “Undyne,” he said “Do you know if anyone else has been having these dreams?” Undyne looked at him, “No only-” Undyne slapped herself on the forehead hard enough to shake the chair she sat on, and the house it sat in “WAIT! When Toriel asked me to watch Frisk that week she was acting strange, and she said that she hadn't gotten enough sleep!” “Asgore blinked “Do you think?” “Maybe?” Undyne said “It's worth a shot.”. 

Asgore hummed thoughtfully “Perhaps we should pay Toriel a visit, and ask if she has been experiencing the same thing as you and Papyrus.”. The two monsters finished their tea and rose from their seats, Making their way to the door, Undyne pulled out her phone. “Hang on” she said “I'm gonna call Papyrus and tell him to meet us there, if we’re right he’ll probably want to be kept in the loop.” Asgore nodded.   
Making their way outside, the two monsters got into Undyne’s hummer. Despite the size of the vehicle, Asgore still felt cramped within it, having to bend his head awkwardly so that his horns did not scrape on the ceiling. Undyne looked at his awkward position and had to stifle a laugh, Asgore joining in a moment later as his circumstances set in. The two monsters sped down the road in search of answers.


	6. Chapter 5: Sans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapters in general will be longer from now on now that things have been established.

Sans was getting pretty worried. It was odd, feeling such concern. Ordinarily the skeleton preferred to just let things happen as they happened, he was still getting used to time marching forward for a change. Things had been rough in the underground, the knowledge of the resets was a heavy burden to bear, one that had sapped him of all motivation for as long as he could remember.

As nihilistic as he was however, Sans found himself thanking his lucky stars that he couldn't actually remember how things went down. All the short skeleton had to go on was some numbers on his phone telling him how many there had been and when the last one was, along with a bad case of deja vu. It wasn't much of a comfort, when he was finishing up second lunch and he looked at his phone only to realize he had eaten the same exact burger fifty times in the last hour. But still… could be worse. 

Since getting to the surface however there hadn’t been a single one, and Sans was torn as to whether that was a good thing or not. On one hand, it meant that time was being left well enough alone and he could actually DO stuff without being afraid of it being ripped away. But on the other hand it meant that now he felt obligated to actually do the aforementioned stuff. 

But back to the matter at hand. He had been noticing the others acting strangely lately. It started with a call from a near hysterical Toriel who had just woken up from an apparent nightmare and had led the conversation in some interesting directions. 

Then he got a call from Alphys who said that Undyne had been acting strangely, she had apparently been having nightmares as well.

Then PAPYRUS started having them. He had heard a bump in the night and had gone to check on him only to find his brother in hysterics, stammering something about “hypothermia” and “food poisoning” and “vacations”. 

Needless to say, he was worried.

Sans sighed as he looked down at the hot dogs before him. He had gotten a call from Toriel that morning saying that she would be staying late at the school where she worked and if he could watch Frisk that night. This was going to be awkward...

It wasn't that he had been avoiding the kid per se (he had), but his own knowledge and his suspicions with regards to the child made attempts at conversation stilted and awkward. Sans liked the kid, really he did. He just had trouble with the whole trusting them part. Sans had done some digging during the child's time in the underground and he was reasonably sure that they were the anomaly that he had been tracking. Or at least one of them. He didn’t know how, for a while all he had to go on was guesswork. That was until he got a message from one of his past “selves”. He had been skimming through his phones databank, and had opened the messaging program only to see a new message alongside the older ones. “It's the kid” he had said, the message parked just below the last one that said “don’t trust the flower”. The writing was spelled horribly, presumably because it had been sent hastily in the last moments before a reset. 

That was part of the reason he had accepted Toriel's request, it was a chance to get more information on the kid. That and the whole “friends in need” part.

Which brought him to where he was now, sitting at an illegal hot dog stand outside of Frisk’s school selling ‘dogs to pass the time. 

Sans looked up as he heard a distant bell ring. Moments later the playground across the street was swarmed with eager children excited to make the most of their newfound freedom from the “horrors” of education. 

Sans reluctantly got up from his seat and began to make his way over. Scanning the playground for Frisk the skeleton stepped to the side to avoid being ploughed over by a group of children that hadn't been looking where they were going. The children in question were quick to apologize before returning to whatever game they were playing, letting out giggles at the antics of their peers. “Heh” Sans thought “cute kids”. 

The skeleton searched the entire playground but found no sign of the human child, he was starting to get concerned before he spotted them sitting under a tree close to the schools entrance, doodling in a notebook. 

Approaching from the side Sans managed to get right next to them before making his presence known. “Hey kid” Frisk startled, snapping the notebook shut and looking up in surprise. 

“Hi Sans!” they said as they recognized him, a small smile playing on their face “What’re you doing here?”. Sans hesitated before deciding on honesty “Eh, your moms got some stuff she’s gotta do after school today, so she asked me ta keep an eye-socket on ya tonight.” 

“Oh” Frisk said “So are we going over your house?”. “Sure kiddo” Sans replied “I don't expect you to sit under this tree all night, though it does seem like a good place for a nap.”. Sans made a show of collapsing to the ground next to Frisk and leaning heavily on the tree. “Sans!” the child giggled, poking him lightly “cmon I don't wanna be here all day!”.   
“Aw but c'mon kid” Sans said “I gotta lot of sleep to catch up on yknow. I've been awake a whole three hours.”. The child snickered at the skeletons antics before getting to their feet. Sans let out an exaggerated groan and he got up. “So kiddo you ready to hit the road?” Frisk nodded, taking the skeleton’s hand. Sans didn't know how to feel about that. “are we walking?” Sans feigned outrage “Walk? Me? Who do you think I am Papyrus?” Frisk gave him an odd look “Don't worry kiddo” He said with a wink “I know a shortcut.”.

Frisk’s eyes widened and they stumbled as they suddenly found themselves in the skeleton brothers living room. Sans was about to crack a joke but stopped himself when he saw how distressed the child seemed at the sudden change of scenery. “Hey kid are you alright?” Frisk clutched their chest and tried to steady their breathing. “S-sorry I just… wasn't expecting that. It reminded me of...”. Frisk trailed off. “Reminded you of what kiddo?” that expression on their face, he wouldn't grace it with a description. Frisk was startled from the daze they had entered by the skeletons question “Ah! Uh n-nothing!”. Sans raised a brow (or would have if he had one) “whatever you say kiddo”.

Composing themselves the human child looked around “Is Papyrus here?” they asked expectantly. Sans chuckled at their eager tone “Sorry kiddo He’s staying over at Undyne’s tonight, said he had a new recipe he wanted to try out, don't worry I told the fire department.”. “Oh…” Frisk said. 

There was an awkward silence. “So kiddo… you got any homework?” Frisk's face morphed into a childish pout and they sighed. 

  
\-------------------------------------- 

_Sans watched from a distance as the human child attempted to appease the lone pyrope. He had to say, they were pretty abysmal at dodging, but it hadn’t happened all at once. The human had been nearly flawless in their evasions up until a minute ago, dancing flawlessly between incoming attacks, jumping and weaving to avoid the strands of burning rope that waved through the air attempting to ensnare them in a very unwanted embrace. It was almost as if the child knew where the bullets would be before the monster creating them did, just more evidence for his theory. That hadn't lasted however, now the child was barely managing to evade the incoming barrage, despite the fact that the attacks in question weren’t coming any faster than they had before. Sans shrugged and turned to leave, the kid had faced far more skilled opponents thus far without much trouble, they didn't need his help here._

_Sans was startled out of his musings by a pained cry. He turned to see that one of the burning ropes had snagged the child's foot and yanked them off their feet. He watched in horror as the ropes lunged like vipers, wrapping the human up in their smoldering embrace and eliciting pained screams from the child. Shaking the shock from his mind, Sans bolted over to where the child lay writhing, the monster responsible standing there in shocked horror at what they had done. Sans desperately tried to tear the burning ropes away from the child's body but let out a yelp as the flames burned his hands, he had never been very strong in the physical department and that brief attempt alone had nearly killed him._

_Sans watched helplessly as the child writhed on the ground in a futile attempt to free themselves, The noises escaping their mouth bore a resemblance to the terrified shrieks of a dying animal._

_He couldn't take this anymore, raising a hand a single bone shot out of the ground, piercing the child's heart and ending their suffering._

_It didn’t matter Sans thought, nothing mattered_

_But despite that Sans could have sworn he felt SOMETHING crawling on his back._

  
Sans shot awake with a gasp, clutching his chest. The skeleton tried desperately to regain his composure, “w-what, what WAS that?”. Was that just a dream? Or was it something more? A thought occurred to the short skeleton, was that dream like the ones that the others had been having? Was that why they had been acting so odd? If he was correct, Sans couldn't say he blamed them, that dream, it had felt so _real_. He could still hear Frisk’s screams ringing in his ears, still see their corpse when he closed his eyes.

The skeleton’s contemplation was cut short as he heard as small cry and a thud from downstairs. Getting out of his bed he only hesitated a moment before opening the door to his room and looking to find the source of the noise. 

Peering over the banister, the skeleton was surprised to see Frisk on the floor, having fallen from where they had fallen asleep on the couch. The child was whimpering, the blanket he had given them coiled around them like a snake, wrapped around them so tightly it had begun to bruise their skin. 

Sans only hesitated a moment. “Hey! Kid!” he yelled, running down the stairs. The skeleton shook the child's shoulder, trying to rouse them from whatever dream they were trapped in. Frisk only whimpered and thrashed, their struggles so violent their head banged against the floor. “Kid! Frisk!” the skeleton lunged and grasped the child by the arms, trying to prevent them from hurting themselves. Frisk only thrashed harder, trying to throw the unseen threat off of themselves. 

Gritting his teeth, Sans managed to pin the child's arms and legs beneath his own, trying desperately to rouse them from whatever night terror had them in its grip. Slowly, very slowly the child's thrashing slowed, their movements becoming weaker and weaker as they began to wake. Sans sighed in relief as their struggles ceased. 

Frisk’s eyes fluttered open, only to widen in surprise as they began to panic. “Oof” Sans gasped as the freshly panicking child threw him off. Frisk crawled back a few feet until their back was against the couch, beginning to hyperventilate. “Kid… what… what was that?” Frisk only shook their head and tried futility to calm themselves. Eventually, the child managed to calm themselves slightly and turned fearful eyes onto the skeleton before them. “Kid, does…” Sans trailed off as he regained his composure, “Does this happen often?”. Frisk gave a hesitant, teary nod as they began to shake.

Sans was not equipped to deal with this. His ability to comfort other people was limited to bad puns and trying to make light of things. Somehow he didn’t think that was gonna be ehough here. But, as the child before him began to sob, Sans knew he had to do something. “Aw geez kid…” Sans slowly got up and made his way over to the sobbing child, sitting beside them. “C’mere pal” Sans slowly wrapped them in an embrace and began rubbing circles on their back. “Its alright Frisk, your safe.”. The child sniffed and Sans felt two wet points form where their face was buried in his jacket. 

Sans didn't know how long the two of them stayed like that, but slowly the child's sobs gave way to shaky breathing and eventually soft wet snores. Sans shakily stood up, cradling the child in his arms. He had never really realized just how small they were, he wasn't the tallest guy himself, but they only came up to about the center of his chest. Sans set Frisk back on the couch, wrapping them in the discarded blanket and ruffling their hair. As he straightened, something caught his eye. 

On the table next to the couch sat a worn purple notebook. Now that Sans thought about it, he had often seen the kid with that notebook, they were always doodling or writing in it. Frisk never let anyone see inside, they always put it away when someone approached. Sans had never given it much thought, he knew that plenty of kids did similar stuff, but after recent events he wasn't so sure. 

Crossing over to where the book sat Sans only hesitated a moment before picking it up and opening it. As he skimmed the pages, his eye lights went out and the near perpetual grin slipped from his face.

He needed to talk to Alphys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really any puns in this chapter, I'm really bad at thinking of them.


	7. Chapter 6: Alphys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lotsa exposition in this one but its a necessary evil.

Alphys put her head in her hands. The lizard monster leaned heavily on her desk, covered with blueprints, paperwork, and empty containers of instant ramen. She had to admit, when she had accepted a job at the university a town over she hadn't thought there would be this much paperwork.

It was Ironic really. When she had first accepted the job of Royal Scientist she had been fresh out of university and eager to put her new skills to the test in the field. After the incidents with the amalgamates she had decided she had had her fill. The job at the university had seemed like such a good idea, she felt like she was ready to put down her lab coat and pass on her knowledge to a new generation of scientists that hopefully wouldn't make egotistical robots or twisted undead abominations. 

Now though, she found herself longing for the days when she could just have an idea and rush down to the basement to put it into practice. She still ran experiments and did things on the side, but now that she no longer had the king’s seal of approval and the near limitless budget that came with it she was much more… limited. Not to mention all these human laws and regulations, who had ever heard of things like “safety violations” and “scientific ethics” and “OSHA” before? Life had been so much simpler when it was just her, her chainsaw and her chronic depression. 

Though as her eyes passed over a picture of her and Undyne at an anime convention, she had to admit that this new life did have its perks.

Alphys sighed, Undyne had been acting strangely lately. It had started with a string of nightmares, no two were quite the same. After some, the fish woman would be an emotional wreck that was practically the opposite of her usual energetic personality. After others, Undyne would be defensive and jumpy, glancing at shadows or reacting strangely to certain things.

Alphys wished she could be home right now, she wished she knew what was causing these dreams. Unfortunately when she had tried to take a day off to stay with her Undyne had told her that she didn't want her giving up her job for her sake.

And then she threw her in a trashcan.

Alphys sighed once more. What a woman. 

As Alphys’s mind drifted, she began to feel drowsy. She hadn't gotten a full nights sleep in days and it was starting to take its toll, she was almost at the point where she had started to hallucinate.

She shook her head to clear it. NO! She had to stay awake! She needed to grade these papers!. “You can do it!” cheered the mini Undyne on her shoulder, before being interrupted by the snores of the mini Sans on the other. Alphys’s eyes began to drift shut as the tiny imaginary skeleton’s rhythmic breathing pulled her to sleep as well

_Alphys stared in horror at the screen before her. She could have sworn that she gave the human the correct sequence! She had the notes right here! Unfortunately, nothing could deny the horrifying sight before her. The lasers that made up the Hotland security system had done their job, and the human had been cut to pieces, their limbs strewn about the-._

Alphys was roused from her nightmare by a knock at the door. Blinking quickly she shot out of her chair so fast that it was sent flying backwards. “I’M AWAKE!” she shouted. The lizard monster blinked, and took in her surroundings. 

That dream-. There was another knock at the door. Alphys straightened her glasses and hurried over to the door of the office, the frosted glass of the door’s window made it impossible to tell who was on the other side. “C-coming!” she said, smoothing her clothes and unlocking the door, which swung open to reveal a stout skeleton in a worn blue jacket. 

“Hey Alphys.” Sans said tiredly, the skeleton somehow had dark circles under his eyes, and held a worn notebook and a binder under one arm. Alphys straightened her glasses and blinked in surprise. “S-sans? What are you doing here?” it was unusual for the skeleton to come see her in person, much less when she was in a different town. The skeleton chuckled, “Eh just thought I'd stop by and talk about some stuff, figured I could hold off on third breakfast for one day.”. Alphys straightened, “W-well what did you want t-to talk about?” Sans seemed to tense slightly, his eyes staring off to the side. “That's… kinda involved, would you mind taking a walk with me?”.

Alphys hesitated, she wouldn't be surprised if this was some kind of prank. She looked over her shoulder at the mountain of paperwork, She looked back at Sans, back at the paperwork, back at Sans. “FOLLOW YOUR HEART!” went the shoulder Undyne, “zzzzzzzz…” went the shoulder Sans. Her heart told her she really didn't want to do that paperwork.

Alphys lurched as she suddenly found herself standing in the skeleton brothers living room. Stomping her foot she turned around and glared at Sans. “Y-you know I hate it when you do that!” she accused. Sans just shrugged, “Sorry, but there's some stuff I gotta tell ya.”, Alphys scowled, “Y-you could have told me in my office! Now I'm here and a-all my stuff is in another t-town entirely!”. 

San’s grin widened, “sorry but I got some stuff I gotta show ya too, wouldn't want you to accuse me of telling a fib-ula”. Alphys just rolled her eyes at the pun, “W-well I’m here now so what is this all about?”. Sans sighed like this was a conversation he had been dreading, “yeah...so, I found the anomaly.” Alphys blinked, “w-what?”.

The anomaly had been something Sans was obsessed with. During the (admittedly brief) time they had worked together, he had been convinced of its existence. They had all seen odd readings, but Sans had been convinced that there was an active anomaly affecting time, one with its own agenda. Alphys had been sceptical, but she had been far more willing to believe him than many of their colleagues. After awhile, funding for Sans research on the anomaly had been cut in order to focus on improving the CORE infrastructure, and Sans had quit the next day, moving to Snowdin a few months later to continue his research on his own.

Alphys had been one of the people on San’s team before the funding was cut, though at the time she was little more than an intern. She had kept in contact with the short skeleton throughout the years, even as more and more of the staff at the hotland lab left to pursue other things, until she was eventually the only one left. 

Needless to say Alphys was surprised, she had believed Sans that the anomaly had existed, but she never expected him to actually find it, who was to say in what state it existed in anyway? “O-oh my g-god this is GREAT! You actually f-found it! This i-is your life's-work and now you have a c-chance to actually study the real t-thing! W-where is it?”.

Despite Alphys’s expectations, Sans didn't seem very enthused, in fact she could have sworn he seemed more down in the dumps than usual. Sans sighed, “why don't we take this downstairs.”.

The two monsters shortly found themselves in San’s basement/lab. Seeing as the skeleton had simply moved his entire house aboveground via a “shortcut” to an empty plot of land, the basement had been moved as well. Alphys looked around the workshop, the place was more misshapen than usual, papers were lying around and the sheet over the machine in the corner had been removed. Sans gestured to a couch against the far wall, “you may want to take a seat, this is gonna be a bit ‘time’ consuming”. Alphys sat down with the skeleton settling beside her, the notebook and binder settling on his lap.

“So…” the skeleton started, “I’m just gonna jump right into it, Frisk is the anomaly”. Alphys simply stared at the skeleton like he had grown a second head, “W-what?” she said quietly. Sans sighed “I know it sounds crazy but just take a look”. 

Sans handed her the binder which she promptly flipped open. “Full disclosure I've had concrete proof of the anomalys existence for a while now, I just never told anyone ‘cause I wanted to see if I could actually find it first” Alphys continued to flip through the binder. “That machine over there’s basically a souped up version of the old timeline scanner we had in the lab, y’know the one that got cannibalized for parts ‘cause we needed cpu’s for the CORE.” Alphys came to a page in the binder that bore a large graph. “I set up the scanner to record things automatically, and last night I pulled the data from the cycle where Frisk was in the underground, and, well just take a look.”.

The graph on the page was a simple line graph, the Y-axis was labeled “timeline disturbances”, the X-axis labeled “Frisk’s Progression”. There was a huge volume of disturbances overall, but several times throughout there was massive spikes, before the line returned to its previous state.

Sans was painting a very undesirable picture, and Alphys found herself hoping desperately that he was wrong. “H-how can y-you be sure?” Sans looked to the side, “I couldn't be, not one-hundred percent, but two nights ago, I found something that really clinched it.”. Sans handed Alphys the worn notebook, and she immediately recognized it as the one Frisk constantly carried around.

With shaking claws, Alphys opened the notebook. She slowly flipped through it, taking in the details of every page. Suddenly the lizard monster slammed it shut. Alphys removed her glasses, pinching the bridge of her snout to try and stop the tears forming in her eyes. 

“I-I dont-” Sans watched her sadly, “I wish that was all I had to tell you, but there’s one more thing.”. Sans gestured to the binder and Alphys turned the page to find another graph like the one before. “I kept the machine running since we got to the surface, and for a while everything was normal, the timelines were clean. But two weeks ago, things started to spike up again, the timelines became active, but not in the way they were before.”, Alphys studied the graph wordlessly. 

“The timelines were active, but less so, the data points were less concentrated, and spread out. I didn't really think too much of it at first, but then I remembered the nightmares.”. Alphys looked at Sans with a jolt, and Sans nodded meaningfully. “You’ve had them too right? Those dreams that just seem so real, to the point where you aren't sure what's reality anymore. That got me thinking, I checked the dates and the point at which each disturbance starts corresponds to when each of us started having those nightmares, so that got me thinking, what if they aren't really nightmares, what if their-” ''Memories.” Alphys finished, “Memories from other timelines, seeping into our own.”.

Alphys pinched the bridge of her nose once more, “H-have-” she gulped “have you t-told anyone e-else?”. Sans shook his head, “Nah, didn't know where to start.”. Alphy looked away, “who d-do you think we s-should tell first, I m-mean we have to t-tell them eventually.”. Sans looked down, “All things considered, I think we should tell Toriel first.”. Alphys turned to face him “y-you know sh-she’ll skin you a-alive right?” despite himself Sans smiled, “It’d be kinda hard to do that. But, as difficult as its gonna be, I think she deserves to be the first to know what happened to her kid.”.

Alphys sighed “W-when do you think we should do it?”. “How about tomorrow? I can pick you up and we can head over to her place around two.”. Alphys looked at him strangely “w-wont Frisk be home from school? I doubt t-they would be happy to listen in o-on that conversation.”.

Sans winked “Don’t worry, I know a guy who owes me a favor.”.


	8. Chapter 7: Frisk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is wondering (unlikely thought it may be) Updates will probably happen in chunks of two or three chapters at a time from here on out, cant tell you when they'll happen, but they'll happen. This chapters shorter and is mostly setting up the next one with a bit of a more lighthearted tone before shit hits the fan.

You're Not sure when your friends started avoiding you. It was just something that crept up on you, a fact that had seemingly woven itself into your life these past few weeks. It started with Toriel, she became distant, fearful. When she was around you she treated you like you were made of glass, like you might shatter if she so much as moved too quickly. You barely talked, and when you did, you didn't actually say anything. It was just small talk. “How was your day?” or “I found this new recipe”, the both of you dancing a ten foot radius around the elephant in the room, the big neon sign that said “why are you acting so _strange_?”. You weren't even sure you wanted to know the answer.

Undyne had started acting oddly not long after. You would go over to her house as you so often did, prepared for the usual barrage of mock violence and culinary abominations and she would just collapse. You can't remember a time you had ever seen Undyne so tired, she was always a ball of energy, but lately she seemed lethargic and sluggish, as if she was carrying some massive weight on her back. She also treated you oddly, being oddly gentle for a person who considered a dropkick to be a friendly form of greeting. 

Then there was Papyrus, he acted like a second mother. You had only seen him once or twice these past few days, but when you did he was a whirlwind. He constantly inquired as to your well being, asking if you were feeling well, or if you were hungry, or if you were too cold or too warm. When you decided to go outside, he had bundled you up so tightly with jackets and scarves that you could barely move, stopping just short of wrapping you in bubble wrap.

  
Alphys was even more of a nervous wreck than usual. Admittedly you had only gotten to interact with her via phone these past few weeks, her having been swamped with paperwork due to the end of the semester. She hadn’t even been posting on social media much, only posting once per day as opposed to the near constant barrage that you had grown accustomed to. 

  
And Sans. You hadn't seen him since you stayed over at his house a few nights ago. You still weren't sure what to do with regards to him witnessing you nightmare. You had barely interacted with him at all the following morning, he didn't ask any questions and you didn't offer any answers. You had just gone about your morning routine, only communicating in one or two word sentences until Toriel came and picked you up. You hadn't talked to him at all since then, not even a pun via text. Despite that however, you could have sworn you’d seen his jacket out of the corner of your eye once or twice. 

That nightmare, that had been one of the worst you’d had yet. They almost always ended with your death, and you liked to think that you were starting to get used to it. But that one, when you had inevitably stumbled upon something that killed you, it had taken longer, been… slower. You suppress a shudder. 

Your pulled from your thoughts by the ringing of a bell. It seemed you had blanked out for the entirety of the class and the day had come to a close. You gather your books and pencil case and accompany the wave of other children out into the hall. Reaching your locker you open it, pulling out your bag and hastily making your way to the door. 

Outside you take your usual place under the tree by the entrance. Your classmates all stampede towards the playground, you used to join them, but have long since stopped, you find it too… loud. 

Sighing you grab your bag from its place beside you, planning to add an entry to your journal. “Yo! Lil-buddy!” You look up in surprise to see a familiar face. Your face splits into a grin, “Burgerpants!” you cry, leaping up and running across the schools lawn to where he sits, lounging on a bench. Burgerpants looks much better than when you last saw him. His MTT uniform has been swapped for a new one, a brown shirt, jeans, a red and black checkered vest, and a hat shaped like a hot dog. The bags under his eyes are much smaller than you remember, though still very much present, and he smells cleaner. There isn't even any glitter in his fur. 

“Hey little buddy long time no see.” He stands up as you make it to him and flinches as you nearly bowl him over with a hug. “Whoa! Calm down there it's not been that long!” You give him a glare, “It's been six months!” you say accusingly. He winces, “Y-yeah. Sorry about that but I was uh… busy. I got a new job! And I get to sleep on it! I've finally gotten my life together lil buddy.”. You raise an eyebrow, “what happened to being a star?” he smiles wistfully “yeah i, kinda gave up on that. For a while it all seemed like it was coming together y’know? Mettaton said he'd finally give me a part in one of his shows and then I find out that im playing a potted plant!”. 

You giggle, unlike you though it is to laugh at another's suffering there's something about the way he says it thats impossible not to find funny. Burgerpants sighes, “anyway I quit. It was actually surprisingly easy. Mettaton even threw a party to celebrate finally breaking my will.”. You frown “but I thought you said you got a new job?” Burgerpans grins, “Right you are little buddy, not long after I managed to find a new employer.”. He frowns “it's still the food business but I suppose that's the only thing I have experience in.

“So who are you working for now?” you ask. An odd expression crosses Burgerpants’s face before he sighs and shakes his head, “Uh. Its, Uh. Sans.”. You give him a look of utter disbelief, “Sans? Really? Since when did he own a restaurant?.”. Burger pants laughs at your expression, “He doesnt Its, uh, a hotdog stand. He's actually a pretty good employer, infinite breaks, free hot dogs, AND I get paid THREE dollars an hour. That's TWICE as much as I was making under Mettaton.”. 

A thought occurs to you. “So, why are you here at my school?” Burgerpants’s eyes widen, “OH! That. well, Sans said that your mom needed him to watch you for an hour or two but he had to take his afternoon nap so he asked me to do it.”. Your have to restrain yourself from rolling your eyes at that. 

There is an awkward silence. “So” Burgerpants asks, “Wanna get some nicecream?”. You grin and nod and the two of you set off. A few minutes later you stop. “Wait” you say, “Do you mind if we quick stop at my house so I can drop off my bag?”. Burgerpants hesitates, “ uh. Sure, why not?”. 

Your walk the few blocks to your house, as you approach you hear a phone ring. “Oh, thats mine.” he pulled the phone from his pocket as you climb the front steps. “Oh hey Sans, what? Oh were just heading to the kids house real quick, kid wanted to drop off their bag. Wait? What? What do you mean don’t let them-”. 

You open the door, and are greeted to a room full of monsters, all staring at you. Sans stands in the back of the room, a phone to his ear. Everyone is here, Sans, Alphys, Papyrus, Toriel, Asgore, Undyne. Everyone is staring at you.

  
“WELL…” Papyrus says, “SHIT.”


	9. Chapter 8: Meeting

_Alphys really needed to build a backup generator for this place. She found herself thinking about this as she forced herself to press on through the darkened hallways of the True Lab. Of all the times for the generator to fail it had to pick now. She shuddered as she heard something shifting around inside the air ducts above her. She wasn't quite sure why many of the amalgamates preferred such tight spaces. She suspected that it helped them feel more together, more… whole. Mercifully she had yet to encounter any of the amalgamates face to face during this excursion, she still wasn't sure how to tell them they were going to be free. It was ironic really, she had come here to release them and she had wound up trapped alongside them._

_She pressed on, rounding a corner. First things first, she needed to restore power to the elevator, if someone tried to use in now it-. Alphys stumbled as the floor shook and a huge crash was heard from the direction she came. Regaining her balance the lizard monster whirled around, her eyes widening as she began to piece together what had happened. She ran faster than she ever had in her life, not even Papyrus had been able to coax her to move so quickly during their (admittedly short) training session. Skidding to a stop around the corner to the elevator she was met with a pile of scrap that had once been an elevator. She realized what had happened, someone had tried to use the elevator, without power, when the brakes that held it in place had disengaged it had plummeted down the shaft, the impact had caused it to crumple like tin-foil. But who? Almost no one knew the lab existed, even with the note she left she doubted anyone would have found it so soon. Alphys’s question was answered as a small stream of blood trickled from beneath the rubble. She began to think, not for the first time, that maybe she should have jumped down that pit when she had the chance._

Alphys fell out of bed. She groaned and massaged her snout as she sat up before freezing in place. She began to shake, that dream… it had started. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her breathing, looking up her clock said 9:00. She had slept in! She needed to get ready, she had to get to class! Shooting up she froze once more. Oh yeah. Right. She had taken the day off. Relaxing she straightened and grabbed her phone from its place on her bedside table. She opened the texting app and began typing a message to Sans. 

A : Hey, I've started having the dreams.  
It was only a moment before she got a response.  
S : Oh yeah? Guess that makes six. You still up for telling Tori today or should we try to do this another time?  
A : Yeah, If we don't do this today I’ll never be able to find the courage to do it another time. Besides, if anything this just reinforces the fact that we have to tell them. I can only imagine having these dreams without any understanding of where the’re coming from.  
S : Maybe. Could be worse.  
A : I know that!   
S : Sorry. didn't mean to guilt trip you there. We all know what we did now, and we’ll have to face the consequences. But that comes later, first we have to make sure everyone’s on the same page.  
A : Yeah. I’m really looking forward to that.  
S : Hey. What did I tell you about sarcasm?  
A: This isn't funny for more important reasons than that.  
S: Fair enough. 

\------------------------

The blue hummer raced down the road. The drivers erratic steering made more than a few other vehicles honk their horns in irritation. Suddenly the car swerved off of the road into a nearby driveway, belonging to an adorable cottage. Now that its drivers activities had ceased, it could almost pass as a normal vehicle, were it not for the odd protrusions sticking up from the passenger side roof.

Undyne put the car in park and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Looking over at Asgore she suddenly broke out into hysterical laughter. The king was wearing a shell-shocked expression, His horns embedded in the ceiling and sticking out of the car. He clutched the handle near the door so tightly that he was in danger of tearing it off, and his fur was sticking up like that of a frightened cat. 

The king shot her a side eyed glare, unable to turn to face her, ‘taken by the horns’ as he was. “Cmon!” she laughed “It's funny!”. Asgore sighed and, with some effort, extracted his horns from the roof. “I would be more appreciative of my situation if my life were not currently flashing before my eyes” The king rumbled. “Who taught you how to drive?” Undyne just guffawed. 

Sighing the king Exited the vehicle, letting out a groan as he straightened and taking in the feeling of no longer being compacted like so much trash. “ I certainly hope that Toriel is home” he said “I would very much like for some time to go by before we repeat that experience.”. The pair turned and walked up the front porch. 

Raising a hand Undyne pounded on the door and not a minute passed before it was answered. Undyne took a step back, prepared for the inevitable ‘tiny child projectile’ that Frisk was sure to turn themselves into as they so often did upon her arrival, but she was instead greeted by a lone boss monster.

“Hello Undyne.” Toriel said “and… Asgore.”. The two ex-royals regarded each other silently for a moment. While things between them were no longer immediately hostile, the two were still far from being on good terms with each other. Undyne gave a nervous chuckle as the two attempted to kill each other with their gaze. Eventually Asgore broke eye contact and Toriel heaved a weary sigh. “May I ask what has brought you here?” Undyne felt herself begin to sweat, the staring contest of doom had robbed her of the good mood the prospect of answers had put her in and she found herself lost as to how to begin to explain.

Fortunately, she was saved by a pop of displaced air. “Uh, Whoa. Was there a party or something we just weren't invited to?” Sans asked, “Because we can come back later.”. He turned and made to walk away. Alphys rolled her eyes and grabbed the short skeleton by the arm, pulling him back towards the group of increasingly confused monsters. “W-we are doing t-this NOW!” She growled. Sans whirled to face her, “Everyone at once?” he hissed. “Yes!” she said, “we’re here now, and the only way out is through!”. Sans gave a resigned huff and shoved his hands into his pockets “worth a shot.” he muttered.

The Pair made their way over to stand next to the others. “I believe I am missing something here.” Toriel said, and Sans chuckled “That would make five of us, but we’ll get to that”. Toriel turned to face Undyne, “As I was saying before we were interrupted, what is it that brings you here? Frisk isn't home if you are looking for them.”. “Uh.” Undyne said eloquently, before turning to Sans “Why don't you and Alphys go first”. Alphys and Sans shared a look before Alphys replied. “W-why don't-we go i-inside? T-this might t-take awhile.”. “WHAT WILL TAKE AWHILE?!” Alphys startled and jumped several feet into the air, landing in her girlfriends arms and causing both monsters to blush furiously. Turning, Sans looked at Papyrus, who had apparently arrived whilst they were talking. “This just keeps getting better and better.” he grumbled, producing an odd scraping sound as he massaged his forehead with the palm of one hand.

“Okay” Sans said, taking a deep breath, “you all might want to sit down for this.”.

\---------------------------

  
Sans leaned back in his seat, letting out a breath as the room went silent. In the chair beside him, Alphys was shaking, unable to meet anyone's gaze, and she was far from the only one. The silence persisted for several minutes before someone spoke up “SO… THESE DREAMS, THEY'RE NOT DREAMS.”. Sans hesitated before giving a nod, not able to meet his brothers gaze, “Yeah, ‘fraid not.”. Toriel shuddered from her place across from him, “T-then I-I actually-” she heaved a sob, covering her face with her hands.   
“We all did Tori, even… well there's a reason I hate making promises.”. Toriel looked up at him, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”. Sans laughed at that, though it was devoid of humor, “Nah, and frankly I’d be worried if it did.”. Asgore sat next to his ex (an arrangement neither were particularly happy with) and up till now had not reacted, though the shaking of his hands belied his false composure. “I’m not entirely sure that I want the answer… but does Frisk?”. The unfinished question hung in the air and filled all those present with unfathomable dread. 

Sans sighed. As much as he dreaded it, he knew it would come to this. Reaching over, he removed Frisks notebook from the bag he had brought with him. Hesitating a moment he handed it to Undyne who sat next to Alphys, clutching her girlfriend like a lifeline with her expression morphing between rage and grief. 

Undyne stared at the book in her hand, as if trying to burn a hole in it with her eyes. She only hesitated for a moment, before flipping it open. After a minute of paging through it, She leaned passed it on to Papyrus before burying her face in Alphy’s shoulder, trying to hide the tears that had begun to stream down her face.

One could pinpoint the exact moment Papyrus started taking in the notebook’s contents and their implications. His body went rigid, his motions robotic. It was not long before he passed the book to Asgore. Papyrus leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling, his body sagging and going limp.

Asgore swallowed, the reactions of Papyrus and Undyne had done little to fill him with confidence, and he no longer wished to learn the answer to his previous question. Flipping open the book, he only paged through it for a few seconds before going still. One could have easily mistaken the old king for an unusually realistic statue were it not for the tears in his eyes and the trembling of his hands. Asgore stayed like that for several minutes before Toriel laid a firm hand on his shoulder and gave him a look. He began to shake, “No. Tori, please, don't do this to yourself.”. Toriel just stared at him. Caving under the pressure, the old king handed her the book before heaving a sob and shrinking in on himself, trying to become as small as possible.

Toriel could only bear to look at the notebook’s contents for a brief moment. Dropping the book on the coffee table, she hunched over and clutched her head. Her claws dug into her scalp, causing a small trickle of dust to spill onto her dress. 

The notebook was filled to the brim. Scratches and mad clawing scribbles filled the pages. Some were words, some drawings. In many places, things had been written over each other, staining the pages black. The entire book was illegible, the writing shaky, as if written in a panic, the page crinkled from moisture in many places where tears had stained the pages and smudged the ink. This held true for the entire book until the last few pages. 

_It won't stop. It won't stop. Every time I close my eyes, every time I fall asleep. It keeps happening. Why can't I just stay dead? Why?_

_I can't let them know. They can’t know. They’ll hate me if they know. They’ll hurt me if they know. If they know they’ll do it again. If they know they’ll hurt me again. They’ll hurt me and it will happen over and over and over and it’ll keep happening again and again like it did before. If I die up here. If I die I’ll have to do it again. I can’t do it again I can’t It hurts so much. They don't know. They won't know._

_It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurtsIt hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurts It hurtsIthurtsIthurtsIthurtsIthurtsICantICantNotAgainNotAgainItHurtsImScaredImscaredImscaredIthurts._

The rest of the page was filled with similar scrawls, the words near the bottom written over each other as if they couldn't be said enough. At the bottom corner of the page, there was a large black stain where whatever pen that had been used had broken in their panic. 

The room was silent but for Toriel’s sobs and Papyrus’s rattling. None could look at the others, each trapped in a prison of their own grief. It was Undyne who broke the silence. “H-how? How did they hide this for so long?” Undyne thought back to the times she had shared with the human child, the cooking and anime and projectile hugs, “How can they stand being around us after what we did?”. 

“Those are all pretty good questions.” Sans said, “Not sure we should ask em though.”. Papyrus looked down at that. “WAIT. DO YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT FRISK IS NOT AWARE THAT WE KNOW NOW?” Alphys answered “N-no, we thought it best n-not to tell them y-yet. W-we actually were g-gonna tell you guys o-one at a time.”. “B-BUT, SHOULDN'T WE TELL FRISK SO THAT THEY KNOW THEY AREN'T ALONE AND THAT WE ARE HERE FOR THEM?”. 

“You sure that's a good idea bro?” Sans asked, “ You saw what they wrote, you really think they’d react well to finding out?”. “We cannot simply let them suffer alone.” Toriel said, “They have been doing so for far too long already.”. Sans raised his hands in front of him in a placating gesture, “I’m not saying we should, but Tori the kid is _terrified_ of us, and with good reason. We need to break it them gently or we’ll just make things worse.”. 

There was silence for a moment before Asgore spoke up. “Where is Frisk right now?” he asked. “I dunno, I had a friend pick them up from school, gimme a sec I’ll find out. Sans pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly dialed a number. 

“Hey, Burgie, where are you and the kid right now? Wait? WHAT! No you don't understand, keep them away from here! DON’T LET THEM COME INSIDE!”

The door opened to reveal a shocked human child and a panicking Burgerpants. Everyone's gaze snapped to and held on Frisk who wore a confused and slightly fearful expression. 

“WELL” Papyrus said, “SHIT.”.


	10. Chapter 9: Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aforementioned "Shit" hits the fan.

The two parties regarded each other silently. On one side six monsters, on the other a nervous human child. And Burgerpants, him too. It was Burgerpants that broke the silence, “Uh… Am I missing something here?”. He felt himself begin to sweat as many a monster snapped their gaze onto him and promptly tried to kill him with it. “Ehhehehehe, buddy, maybe you should go.” Sans said, somehow having appeared next to him and giving him a meaningful look. Burgerpants’s gaze searched around the room, passing over all present before landing on Toriel, who promptly cracked her neck. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Everyone’s eyes returned to Frisk, who was standing stock still in the doorway with an indescribable expression on their face. Sans walked up to them, laying a hand on their shoulder. The action earned him a flinch from the child who looked at him and he winced. Frisk’s eyes searched his face, an unspoken question hanging in the air ‘What’s going on?’. 

The near perpetual grin slipped from San’s face and he briefly turned his gaze to the others. Undyne wore a grimace, her teeth clenched and her hands fists where they sat on her lap. Alphys was shaking nervously, her eyes frantically scanning the room. Papyrus had a painfully fake grin on his face, his bones rattling softly. Asgore was a statue, frozen in place. Toriel wore an expression of resigned dread.

Sans tried and failed to make his usual easygoing smile return to his face as his eyelights returned to Frisk’s. “Uh… why don’t you have a seat?” a slightly fearful expression flashed on Frisk's face before they reluctantly sat down in a chair that had somehow appeared nearby. 

Frisk spoke, “S-so what's going on here?” Their face split into a nervous smile. Those present cringed, that smile was so obviously fake they were surprised it didn’t shatter like glass. “F-frisk w-we…” Alphys began before trailing off. Frisk was beginning to get nervous, increasingly confused, they scanned the faces of the monsters before them, “G-guys? What's going on?.”

Frisk looked around the room, trying desperately to find the answers no one seemed willing to give them before their gaze landed on the notebook, still in its spot in the center of the room. It was like a switch was flipped in the smile, the painfully fake grin slipped from their face and their expression went blank, their mouth a tight line as their eyes stared at the notebook. 

It was Toriel who broke first, “My child… we are s-so _sorry_.”. 

Frisk did not react.  
  
“Kid… why didn’t you say anything?” Undyne said, her expression an avatar of remorse.   
Frisk did not react.

“ Young one, its ok. Your not alone anymore.” Asgore said. Frisk did not react.

“I-Im s-so sorry.” Alphys said “Y-you’ve been a-alone all t-this time h-haven't you?”

Frisk did not react  
  
“WE’RE HERE NOW. PLEASE LET US HELP YOU!”

Frisk did not react  
  
“This is why I don't make promises kid. I… I’m sorry I didn't do more.”

Frisk did not react  
  
Frisk did not react  
  
Frisk did not react

Frisk di-

They began to shake.

Throughout the monsters confessions Frisk had not moved at all, Their eyes fixed on the notebook. Now though, their body began to tremble. Their facade only cracked for a brief moment, but that was more than enough time for those present to catch a glimpse of what lay beneath.

Abject. Terror.

“ My child-” Toriel began, reaching out and gently touching their arm. That was a mistake. Frisk launched themselves from their chair, landing hard on the floor and crawling backwards away, their eyes wide and unseeing and the previous mask of calm gone without a trace as they began to hyperventilate. They scrambled backwards, bumping into a table by the front door and causing a vase to fall to the ground, shattering. 

“Kid-” Sans attempted to approach them, but only just leapt backwards as Frisk grabbed a shard of glass and lashed out at him, nicking his jacket. “Frisk!” the monsters stared at them, shocked by the sudden show of killing intent. “S-stay a-away from me!” Frisk stammered, their eyes wide “S-stay a-away!”. They got to their feet, backing up slowly. They looked around panickedly, Eyes darting from one monster to another as if seeing something else entirely. 

Suddenly they turned and ran, out the front door and down the road, dropping the glass shard as they went. “Kid!” Sans reached out with his blue magic but they were already out of range.

The group of monsters ran out of the house after them, but it wasn't long before they stopped, the child gone without a trace. 

“What have we done?” Undyne whispered.


	11. Chapter 10: Cascade

Your feet pound away at the hard ground. Your breathing so hard and fast you throat has started to burn from the cold autumn air sawing in and out of your lungs. Your raise a hand and futility wipe at the tears that spill down your face. 

You don't know where you're going, just that you have to get _away,_ as far away as possible as fast as possible. Everything is welling up at once. Every emotion that you have suppressed over the last six months and who knows how many timelines rising and spilling out of you in a cascade of pain and terror.

You sob. _Why?_ You thought you were over it, you thought that if you just pretended, if you just didn't think about it, then everything would go away. The nightmares, the memories, you just wanted all of it to _go away_. You just wanted someone, anyone to make it _stop_. You try your best to stop thinking, it hurts to think. Some small part of your mind rises above the rest of you that’s screaming for you to run and never stop and observes that you have made it to the edge of town. 

You slow, your at the bus stop. The one you keep waking up at in your dreams. Something about being back here makes the already all encompassing fear even worse. You begin to hyperventilate once more. You hear a noise. 

Turning, you see the headlights of a car coming down the road towards you. With a yelp you tumble into a nearby bush. Your panic becomes even worse, curling into a ball you clamp your hands down over your mouth to try and muffle your breathing, tears spilling out of your eyes and running over your hands.

The car comes to a stop. You hear familiar voices. On no _they're looking for you!_ Their going to find you. Their going to _hurt_ you. You stifle a whimper, you have to be quiet, you cant let them hear you. Trying to calm your breathing you slowly rock in place, curling up tighter as if you could disappear from the world. 

After a few minutes the voices quiet down and you hear the car start back up before rolling away. You stay like that for a while, you don't know how long. Eventually you peak out of the bush, no one is there. You let out a shuddering breath. You have to go, who knows when they’ll be back.

Setting off down the road once more you try to move at a brisk walk before giving up and resuming your all out sprint. You don't know how long you run, you're not even thinking about what your doing, all you know is that you have to run. 

You come to a fork in the road, to your right is an unpaved forest trail, you can see Mt. Ebbot looming in the distance, smaller mountains and hills scattered around it. You turn right.

\-------------------------

“DAMN IT!” Undyne cursed, stomping into the living room of Toriel’s house, Papyrus following dejectedly behind. Asgore looked up tiredly from where he sat, a cup of tea held in shaking paws. “Any luck?” Undyne shook her head grimly, “No, We drove all over town, no sign of them.”, She plopped onto the couch with a groan, “Where the hell are they?! They can't have gotten far!”. Toriel walked into the room “I just got off the phone with Frisk’s friends from school, they are not at any of their houses.”. 

“WE HAVE TO FIND THEM QUICKLY.” Papyrus said “WHAT IF THEY LEAVE TOWN? THEY COULD GET HURT!.”. There was silence for a moment before it was ended by a pop of displaced air. “Took shortcuts all over town” Sans said “No trace of em.”. Alphys gave a frustrated growl from her place beside Asgore where she was typing frantically on a laptop, “I-I cant t-track their phone, t-they must have turned it off or l-left it somewhere.”. 

“I’m putting together a search party with some of the guys from Grillby’s” Sans said, “How about we search the East side of town and you guys take the West?”. There were nods of agreement. “I cannot belive this has happened” Toriel said, “This is all my fault…”. “It's all of our faults Tori.” Sans said “This is our mess and now we gotta clean it up. We need to find Frisk before they do something stupid.”.

Asgore stood up. “We have wasted enough time, Sans we will go with your plan.”. “Alright I’ll go give the word to start searching.” Sans vanished with a pop of air. Asgore turned to the others, “ We will do what little we can to make amends to Frisk later, but first we must make sure they are safe.”. 

Those present were filled with…well mostly a great deal of guilt and worry but also DETERMINATION.

\--------------------------

  
You come to a stop. Panting you bend over, hands on your knees. Your on one of the smaller hills that litter the base of Mt. Ebbot. While the hills were small in comparison to the mountain, they were still quite large as hills go. You had abandoned the trail some time ago, making your way off into the forest. You found yourself in the same numb state that carried you through most of the underground, mindlessly carrying on despite your overwhelming desire to stop. If you stop you might start to think, and then the fear and pain will come back. You straighten up, pressing on once more. 

You don't know how long you walk for, but as you climb higher and higher into the mountain range the sun disappears behind the horizon and the stars appear. You look up, studying the stars. The monsters… they didn't know what you went through to show them those stars… you had wanted to keep it that way. But it was too late now. Now they knew. You shake your head, you had to keep moving, it was the only thing keeping them from finding you, the only thing keeping you alive. 

You take in your surroundings, the hill you’re on has become extremely steep, you will have to watch your footing if you plan on continuing. There are small trees and bushes growing out of the side of the hill and you use them as handholds, climbing further and further. You aren't fond of climbing, you’ve fallen to your death enough times to know how much it hurts. You come to a larger tree, growing out of the side of the hill. Taking the opportunity to rest you sit on one of its thicker branches. 

The branch gives out. With a cry of fear you desperately reach out to try and grab another branch but you don't make it. You tumble down the hill, desperately flailing to try and slow your descent. It doesn't work well, you roll down the remainder of the hill and come to rest at its base.

You whimper in pain, you can tell from experience that your legs are broken. There is a small piece of a stick sticking out of your right arm but you can't muster the strength to pull it out. You let your sobs ring out, it looks like you’re going to die after all. 

You close your eyes and embrace the darkness like an old friend.


	12. Chapter 11: Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be two chapters but... eh.

Sans opened the door to Toriel's house. Barely even glancing about the room he made his way over to the couch and promptly collapsed. He let out a groan of frustration and finally acknowledged the room and its other occupants.

Toriel sat in her armchair, fast asleep having collapsed from exhaustion an hour earlier. Undyne sat on the other end of the couch from him, nursing a cup of tea and glaring at it like it was the source of all the problems in the universe. Alphys was pacing a furrow in the floor in the corner, muttering softly to herself. Asgore had collapsed in a similar manner to his ex wife, his snores the only sound in the house aside from the crackling of the fireplace. Papyrus followed his brother through the door and took a seat next to him.

“Any luck?” Sans asked, already knowing the answer. Alphys took off her glasses and wiped them on her shirt, “n-nothing.” she said “w-we searched everywhere.”. “AS DID WE” said Papyrus, his voice the closest to a whisper it ever came. “W-where could they have gone?” Alphys asked, “You d-don't think they r-ran into the woods d-do you?”. 

Sans sighed, “Hard to say, but if they did they the number of places they could be hiding just went way up.”. Undyne growled and downed her tea in a single angry gulp, “Damn it! The temperature is dropping fast, they’re gonna freeze to death out there!.”. She stood up, “I should be out there looking for them!” she made for the door, “UNDYNE, YOU KNOW YOU AREN'T IN ANY CONDITION TO SEARCH FURTHER TONIGHT! I KNOW YOU’RE WORRIED BUT RUNNING YOURSELF INTO THE GROUND ISN'T GOING TO HELP ANYBODY.”.

Alphys looked up from the floor, “H-he's right Undyne, y-your too vulnerable to the c-cold, you’ll freeze t-to death if you go o-out there.”. Sans leaned back where he sat, “Hopefully the kid found a place to hole up for the night, tomorrow we’ll get some more people and start searching the woods.”.

Undyne huffed and returned to her seat. “Fine! But I’m out of here first thing in the morning.”. Alphys walked over to her girlfriend and sat beside her, “d-dont leave without us, w-we’ll be able to cover m-more ground together.”. “YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS TO STILL BE OUT THERE UNDYNE, I PRACTICALLY HAD TO DRAG SANS BACK HERE.” Papyrus said. 

Undyne looked at Sans in surprise, “Really? That lazybones?”. Unfortunately, the skeleton was already asleep, his snores adding to those of the two ex-monarchs. “Figures.” Undyne muttered. Before long, she and the others were adding their own snores to the pile.

\---------------------

_You wake up. You are surrounded by darkness, your eyes straining to make anything out. Sitting up you try to get your bearings. You are in a void, the darkness so complete that it is almost a solid object. Oddly you can still see yourself, you look down at your battered body, scrapes, cuts, burns. The worn sweater you are wearing is now nothing more than coarse rag, stained almost completely with blood and dirt._

_You wince, your right arm going to clutch your shoulder, looking at it you see a nasty burn, so deep that in some places the fabric of your sweater has fused to your flesh. Your eyes blow open as memories return. The King! You had finally snapped, after so many deaths, you had begun to fight back._

_You had beaten him, he had been at your mercy, his weapon discarded. You had spared him and then. And then! Flowey, he had taken the souls, he had killed the king and stolen them, destroying your only hope of freedom in the process. But then, where are you?_

_Looking around once more you finally spot something, a faint glow in the distance. Making your way towards it you recognize its shape. The small star glows invitingly, its shine has been a beacon of salvation along your journey, saving you from death many times._

_You reach out your hand and touch it. This star… this one is different, its glow feels cold. Wrong. Suddenly there is pain. Deep inside you, you feel like your being torn apart, like some core part of you is being violently shattered. You collapse to your hands and knees and deafen yourself with your screams, its unbearable._

_Suddenly it stops, as quickly as it began it vanishes without a trace. Taking a shuddering breath you look up, only to give a cry of fear as you’re greeted with the enormous smiling face of Flowey the flower._

_“HOWDY!” he booms, his voice so loud you can feel your ears ring. “Its ME Flowey! Flowey the flower! I owe you a HUGE thanks! You really did a number on that old fool! Without you, I NEVER could have gotten past him. But now, with YOUR help, He’s DEAD. And I’ve got the human SOULS!”_

_You begin to hyperventilate, searching desperately for a means of escape, but to no avail. Flowey continues, “Boy! I’ve been empty for so long, It feels great to have a SOUL inside me again. Mmm, I can feel them wriggling.”. He looks at you, his gaze becoming eager, almost… hungry._   
  
_“Aww, you’re feeling left out aren't you? Well that’s just perfect. After all, I only have six souls. I still need one more before I become a GOD! And then, with my newfound powers. Monsters. Humans. Everyone. I’ll show them all the REAL meaning of this world. Oh, and forget about escaping to your old SAVE FILE. It’s gone FOREVER. But don't worry. Your old friend FLOWEY has worked out a replacement for you! I’ll SAVE over your own death. So you can watch me tear you to bloody pieces, OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER._

_You stumble, terror overwhelming you. Flowey pauses, perhaps mistaking your misstep for a show of defiance. “What? Do you really think you can stop ME???” He fades away, leaving you in darkness. When he next speaks his voice is everywhere, as if he were whispering directly into your Soul._

_“You really ARE an IDIOT.”_

_Flowey steps out of the shadows. He’s enormous, he’s terrifying, and he leaves you without a doubt that as badly as you want for it to be over, this nightmare is only just beginning._

_LOAD_

_Flowey tears you limb from limb_

_LOAD_

_You’re devoured by a swarm of ravenous insects._

_LOAD_

_Flowey crushes every bone in your body. One by one._

_LOAD_

_…_

_LOAD_

_…_

_LOAD_

_…_

_LOAD_

_You’ve forgotten what it feels like to have all of your limbs._

_LOAD_

_H E W O N T L E T Y O U D I E…_

_LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD. LOAD._

\-------------------------

You wake up, gasping for breath. You squeeze your eyes shut, you’re laying on something cold and hard. Slowly, your senses come back to you. The first thing that registers is cold, the next is pain. 

Your legs feel like they’re on _fire_. You let out a whimper and try to sit up. You can't move, _oh god why can't you move!?_ Your eyes fly open. Your outside, the stars shining overhead. You manage to turn your head, you take in your surroundings. Your vision scans the base of the hill. A worn tree that’s lost most of its leaves. A puddle of water. Flowey. A shriveled bush. Long grass. Wait, _Flowey?_

You begin to hyperventilate, your nightmare coming back to you. But it's not a nightmare, the nightmare is real, and he's going to kill you and he’s going to do it again and again and again and agai-. Your panic attack is interrupted by a splash of cold water hitting you in the face. Shocked your gaze focuses on flowey, who has an odd bundle of vines growing from his base that he apparently used to splash some of the water in the puddle onto you. 

Noticing that your becoming more coherent Flowey scowls. “ _Finally!_ I thought you would never wake up!” coming to your senses your mind begins to ask hundreds of questions. You settle for one, “H-how?”. Flowey rolls his eyes, “WHAT? You didn’t expect me to stay down there FOREVER did you? I've been living in these woods for MONTHS.” 

“I-I t-thought-” “Yeah WHATEVER!” Flowey interrupts you, “I said I wasn't gonna hurt anyone, not that I was gonna rot at that flower patch until the end of time!”. You manage a shaky smile, “I-I’m glad.”. Flowey sighs, “Yeah yeah, worry about yourself for a minute why don't you.”. Remembering you try to sit up once more, your muscles ache and you’re overcome with an incredible exhaustion, you can just barely summon the effort to raise your head.

Sighing, Flowey grows several vines and helps you sit up. It isn't pretty, your legs are clearly broken, there are many cuts, scrapes and bruises all over your body. Your legs are each wrapped in a makeshift splint, made of several sticks and lengths of vine. You look at Flowey gratefully, “Thank you.”. Flowey looks away, “Yeah, whatever, I didn’t break the barrier just to let you die up here on the surface. I would have healed you, but your injuries are beyond healing magic’s help. Besides, I’m not very good at healing magic, I used to just load y’know?” 

Flowey looks at you, “Speaking of which, why were you out here in the first place?”. You go pale, the reasons for your predicament returning to you. “Running” you say. Flowy frowns, “Running? From who? Toriel? What for?”. “Have to” You say “Not safe, they know.”. “Know what?” Flowey asks. “The resets, they remember.” Flowey grows pale, “A-all of them?” he asks, his voice a harsh whisper.

You shake your head, “Just mine.”. Flowey gives a sigh of relief, “Whew. You scared me for a moment there, for a second I thought I was gonna have Smiley Trashbag on my case again.”. You give him a confused look, but don’t ask what he means. 

You sit in silence for a moment, eventually Flowey speaks up. “You should get some rest, you’re hurt and your gonna need it, we can talk later.”. You nod in agreement, and Flowey lays you back down, growing a bed of moss for you to rest your head on. Eventually, your exhaustion overtakes you and the pain in your body subsides as you fall into a deep and dreamless sleep. 

\-------------------

Flowey watched the sleeping human child for awhile. He felt that familiar ache, the ache of and emotion that he knows he should have but doesn't. It used to be so simple, when he didn't care. Then this dumb kid showed up and they just had to go around being all _nice_ to him. Now he feels that ache all the time, it’s a constant presence in his life. 

After a moment's deliberation, Flowey sank into the ground and burrowed off into the night.


	13. Chapter 12: Pact

Flowey burrowed through the ground. It was odd how natural the process had become for him, a tightly woven bundle of vines spun by his head, ripping apart the earth like a drill. Other vines grew leaves and scooped the freshly disturbed earth behind him, his body and head were coiled so tightly that he resembled an odd green serpent. In the underground he had tired of this and had eventually constructed an entire network of tunnels, including several small chambers that he often used to rest in or store things. On the surface, he had built something similar, tunnels that stretched for miles allowing him to move from place to place with ease. He had gotten used to their twisting structures and the damp smell that permeated throughout. It would be funny if he could actually be amused by anything, even though he was on the surface he still spent most of his time beneath the earth.

Now though, he found himself leaving his network of tunnels behind, delving into new territory on his newfound mission. He had to get help for Frisk. He had done his best to tend to their wounds, but there was only so much he could do. Healing magic didn't work well on humans, there was too much physical stuff in the way that prevented the magic from doing its work. Even if they could be healed that way he wouldn't be able to do it, he never got much practice with healing magic, he used to just load mistakes like that away. Hell, the last time he healed anything was when…

_Flowey cackled as the human went still, they were barely recognizable anymore, their limbs twisted at unnatural angles. He moved his massive limbs and cupped their mangled body in his hands. “Don't die on me yet” he boomed “I need to keep you alive for another five minutes to beat my record”. Opening his mouth a beam of green light shot out and struck the human child, their limbs bent back into place with a sickening crunch and their wounds closed. Raising themselves onto their hands and knees the human blinked blearily up at him, before promptly collapsing into a shivering wreck in his hands. They futilely tried to shield their head with their arms and squeezed their eyes shut, letting out a small whimper as they resigned themselves to what would come next. “Now then” Flowey said “lets try this again”._

Flowey pushed the memories from his mind. No point dwelling on the past he told himself, he had a job to do. 

Flowey paused in his tunneling, he felt vibrations in the ground. Curious, he grew two sensitive vines and probed the earth around him, stretching up to where the surface was, or rather, where it should be. Flowey came into contact with something rock hard. He probed the surrounding area and came to the conclusion that he had reached his destination. With some difficulty, Flowey rammed a bundle of vines through the sheet of rock and breached the surface.   
Flowey looked around, he was in the middle of a road, houses stretched down either side. One in particular caught his attention.

Flowey scoffed at the sight. “It even looks like her old one.” he said, burrowing under the earth once more and emerging in front of Toriel's house. Growing his stem, he leaned over and peered through a window. The scene inside was nothing short of comical, Six monster, all collapsed in various pieces of furniture and fast asleep. “Wonder what's got them so exhausted.” Shrinking back down to his usual length Flowey began to consider his next course of action.  
  
On one hand he could do what he came here for, he could probably get inside and wake them up, show them Frisks location. On the other, the last time they met they weren't exactly on good terms with one another. If he woke them, who knew how they would react, he’d be putting himself at risk. “Maybe this was a bad idea.” Flowy muttered to himself. He sighed, he was making excuses and he knew it. Whether he actually cared about Frisk or not was debatable, he himself would deny it to his dying breath. But regardless of his personal feelings he was in this deep already, Flowey knew that he was far too interested in seeing how this played out to walk away, especially after six months of isolation.

Flowey scowled and prepared for what he was about to do. He didn't do this often, partially because it was uncomfortable, but mostly because it looked ridiculous. Stretching his stem, Flowey grew several vines from its base. With his brow furrowed in concentration, he coiled the vines into three thick appendages and planted them against the ground before growing a fourth vine which he grew leaves from and shaped into a makeshift shovel.

Now came the hard part, Using his new “shovel” he scooped soil around his roots and lifted himself onto the makeshift “legs”. With his body raised, he grew a basket of vines and deposited his roots and the soil into it. His new “body” complete, he made his way up the steps. He hated moving around like this, his custom limbs were not easy to use and just walking like this took nearly all of his concentration. Carefully, he climbed the stairs, his legs wobbling slightly as he did so. 

Upon reaching the door, Flowey prepared to enact the next step of his plan to gain entry to the house before him, though thankfully this one would be easier than the last. Flowey grew a small vine and reached under the door, searching around for a moment he snagged the lock and unlocked it. Flowey tried the knob and it flew open without any trouble. 

Steeling his nerves, Flowey entered.

\-------------------------------

It wasn't often that Undyne slept so deeply. Her slumbers were often light and quick, she was early to bed and early to rise. Now though, she was in the throes of a deep and restful slumber, thoughts flowing in and out of her mind like water through a sieve. This was the best sleep she had had in ages, the exhaustion that had overtaken her upon her return to Toriel's home was all consuming. It demanded to be satisfied.

It didn't last.

Undyne was roused from her slumber by an impact on her face. It didn't hurt, but it did its job well. “NYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” She howled, lunging up from her place on the couch and hurling a spear through a nearby window. Her eye unseeing, she quickly formed another spear in her hand, searching desperately for the unseen threat that her instincts were warning her about.

“Calm down fishface!”. Pausing, Undyne finally acknowledged her surroundings. Her vision scanned the room, passing over various monsters rubbing sleep from their eyes, over the now shattered window and landed on Flowey.

“You?! What the hell are you doing here!” Undyne growled and pointed her weapon at the flower, who held a faintly annoyed expression on his face. The other monsters followed her gaze and reacted in a similar matter. 

They opened their mouths to speak, but the inevitable chorus of “why are you here’s” was by Flowey’s makeshift “legs” giving out. “Pffffffthahahhahaha!” Sans erupted into laughter, the previously menacing look on his face nowhere to be found as he took in the absurd appearance of the flower. Flowey rolled his eyes as he climbed to his “feet” and shot him a glare. “Yeah yeah, I know, laugh it up.”. After a moment Sans managed to calm his sudden giggling fit, and regain his composure, the initially hostile mood had mellowed out quite a bit.

Clearing her throat, Toriel gave Sans a look before turning to Flowey. “I see that you have decided to show yourself again” she said “May I ask what brings you here?”. Flowey gave a groan of frustration, “I was GETTING to that” he said “before SOMEONE tried turning me into a shish-kebab!”. Undyne lowered her weapon, planting it against the floor and leaning on it with an unamused expression on her face. “I’ll apologize when you apologize for the whole ‘soul stealing’ incident.” Flowey scoffed “not likely” he said “but I AM here for a reason.”. 

“And that would be?” Toriel said, growing impatient. “Weeeellll” Flowey drawled, “I found someone who belongs to you, and I figured you might want them back.”. Instantly any hostility vanished, replaced instead by a suffocating atmosphere of worry and guilt. “Where?” Asgore whispered, leaning forward in his seat. “I found em out in the woods” Flowey said, “fair warning, they’re in a bad way.”.

Undyne snarled, lunging forward and snatching Flowey up by his stem. “What did you DO to them you bastard!” “ACK!” Flowey yelped, “Nothing dipshit!” he screeched. “Why you!” Undyne reeled back her arm, prepared to throw the distraught flower, possibly into the stratosphere. “Undyne!” Asgore said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I understand your mistrust of Flowey, but he is our lead as to Frisk’s whereabouts.”. Undyne paused, before groaning and dropping her would be victim. Flowey coughed when he hit the ground and made a show of dusting himself off. ‘Now” he said “before I was so RUDELY interrupted, I was going to say that I’ll lead you to them.”.

Toriel stood up, “Then there is no time to waste, I’ll start the car.”. She strode out of the house, the other monsters following in her wake, with Alphys giving Flowey a nervous glance as she passed. Eventually, there were only two monsters left in the house.

Flowey glared at Sans, “What do you want trashbag?!”. Sans chuckled, “Actually, I was going to say thank you.”. Flowey blinked in surprise, “Uh… You're welcome, I guess?”. “That said,” Sans began, his eye-lights going out. “If you hurt them, or if you’re lying…” Flowey just rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah yeah lemme guess.” he snapped, “I’ll have a bad time? Honestly, get some new material already.”. 


	14. Chapter 13: Consequences

Toriel was normally a careful driver. She was not the kind of person to jeopardize people’s safety lightly, and despite how new she was to the concept of vehicles in general she was always cautious behind the wheel and this held doubly true when there were passengers in her vehicle. Now though, that driver was nowhere to be seen.

Toriel’s van sped down the road, to one ignorant of the mindset of its occupants it would appear as if the driver were either in a drag race or perhaps extremely intoxicated. As the van sped down the road, it passed over a pothole and bounced heavily on its suspension.

“T-Toriel! Could you maybe slow d-down a bit?” Alphys asked, massaging her head where it had impacted with the ceiling. It was fortunate that the van was so large, as it was just able to fit the entirety of the group of monsters, with room for one more. “I would have to agree” Asgore said, taking up almost the entirety of the rearmost row of seats, Undyne squished between him and the wall. “I would rather not end up with my horns in the roof again.”.

Toriel paid no heed to their complaints, she was on a mission and nothing would slow her down, “I will slow down when I know my child is safe!”. Sans chuckled nervously as the temperature in the car began to rise, “Easy there, we know how you feel, but it isn't gonna do Frisk any good if we all die in a fiery wreck.”. Toriel’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, but begrudgingly the van slowed.

Toriel returned her attention to the road, as she drove, bundles of golden flowers sprung up by the roadside, leading them to their destination. Eventually, the van rolled to a stop, the path of flowers coming to an end at the entrance to a forest path. A few moments later, Flowey popped out of the ground and the monsters disembarked.

“They're a way into the forest,” he said, “after a while they went off the path and would up falling down a hill.”. Those present winced, “HOW BADLY WERE THEY HURT?” Papyrus asked. An uncomfortable expression briefly crossed Flowey's face, “Pretty bad, they definitely have some broken bones.”. The monsters cringed, especially Sans and Papyrus, being skeletons.

Flowey continued, “the forest is pretty thick, it's gonna be pretty easy to get lost, so I'd recommend that only one or two of you come with me to get them. The rest of you should stay here and get things ready.”. Alphys nodded, grabbing the first aid kit and blankets she had brought with her from the trunk.

There was a moment of silence, the unspoken question hanging in the air, “who would go?”. Undyne stepped forward, “I'll go, if they really went off the path things are gonna be treacherous and if push comes to shove I can carry the squirt and still move around fine.”. Those present nodded, Sans stepped forward next. ‘I'll go too, I might be able to find a shortcut or two to speed things up.”. Toriel looked torn, it was obvious that she was torn between getting Frisk back to her as quickly as possible, and going herself. Sans tried to reassure her, “Really Tori, we’ll get them back safe and sound. That's a promise.”. The goat monster still looked torn, but after a moment she simply nodded and went to help the others prepare. 

“You done yet?!” Flowey snapped, apparently this whole ‘being helpful’ thing was starting to wear thin. Sans and Undyne looked at each other and nodded.

\---------------------------

Sans was starting to regret coming along. They had left the path some time ago and he was getting more exercise than he had in years. Gritting his teeth he pushed himself along, climbing over a fallen log. Undyne, on the other hand, barely seemed hindered at all. She navigated the dark forest, stepping over branches and sliding down inclines effortlessly. 

Coming to the top of a hill, Flowey popped out of the ground. “They’re just up ahead.” he said. The three monsters marched on, soon coming to the top of another hill. Here the hill they were on and another adjacent one met in an odd way, their respective faces joined together, forming a bowl-like divot at the bottom. And there they were.

“Frisk!” Undyne hollered, practically leaping down the hillside and skidding to a stop next to the fallen child, Sans following at a slower pace behind her. Upon reaching the bottom, Sans winced and sucked in air through his teeth. Flowey was right, they were most certainly ‘in a bad way’.

Frisk lay on the ground unmoving. Their small body was covered in scapes, cuts and ugly black and yellow bruises that could be seen through the mangled rag that was once their sweater. A broken piece of a stick protruded from their arm just below the shoulder, dried blood hardened to it with some less dry blood leaking down their arm. Their legs were a mess, clearly broken with more blood soaking through their pants and each wrapped in a makeshift splint. Their face was ashen, their lips tinged slightly blue with cold. 

_Sans plunged the shovel into the ground, ripping up soil and snow as he dug. He worked slowly, losing himself in the repetitive motions as he tried his best to ignore the small body beside him, wrapped in a white sheet-_

Sans shook his head to clear the intruding memory, “Are they-” he asked, letting the question hang. Undyne crouched down and felt for a pulse, before breathing a sigh of relief. “No, just unconscious, I cant blame em, that must hurt like hell.”. 

Flowey popped out of the ground nearby, “Well, on the bright side, they’ve gotten through worse”. Undyne’s and San’s heads both snapped to him at that. “Huh” Sans wondered aloud, “I was wondering if you remembered too.”. Flowey began to look extremely uncomfortable, “Uh…” he said eloquently. Undyne growled “So” she said, her voice “I’m guessing you killed them too? Why am I not surprised.”. 

Flowey’s face morphed, becoming a wicked snarl, “Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw spears fish-stick!”. Undyne snarled, forming several spears “Come at me weed! It’s been awhile since I’ve had salad!”. Flowey formed several pellets in a ring around him and Undyne took a step towards him, before both were interrupted by a whimper from the small child on the ground before them. 

Remembering why they were here, both monsters quickly banished their weapons and turned to face Frisk as they shivered and shifted, before going still once more. Undyne sighed, “cmon, we gotta get them out of here.”. She crouched down and began to pick up the child, standing up with them in her arms, before freezing as they let out another whimper as their wounds were agitated. 

Sans raised a hand, Frisks legs glowed blue slightly, becoming lighter and easing the strain on their battered body. The child shifted in Undyne’s arms, clutching the front of her jacket in their small hands. “Cmon kiddo” Sans said, “ Let’s get you home.”.

\----------------------

Toriel Paced outside the van, it had been an hour since Undyne and Sans had departed and they had yet to return. “Asgore poked his head out of one of the van’s windows, “Are you sure you don't want to sit inside?” he asked “It’s warmer.”. Toriel shook her head and continued her pacing.

Suddenly, Papyrus looked up, “LOOK!” he shouted “HERE THEY COME!”. Everyone's heads snapped up at that, turning to look into the woods. Sure enough, they were greeted to a skeleton, a fish, and an unconscious human child. Toriel sprinted over to the group of monsters, sweeping her child’s battered body into her arms. “Tori” Sans said, “Kids hurt, they need medical attention.”. Nodding, Toriel brought Frisk over by the van, and laid them down on a blanket that Alphys laid out.  
  
Alphys checked them over, taking a moment to regain her composure at the sight of their wounds. “T-these are b-beyond healing m-magic” she said, “W-we’ll have to d-do this the old fashioned w-way.”. She opened the first aid kit and pulled out a roll of gauze, “F-first things f-first, we n-need to get that s-stick out s-so before the w-wound becomes i-infected, T-this is gonna h-hurt, so y-you may want to h-hold them down.”. The monsters froze at that, none eager to do so.

Eventually, Asgore stepped forward, sitting down and pulling Frisk into his lap with his arms around them. Alphys winced and tried to steady her breathing. Stepping forward, She grasped the stick, and in one fluid motion, pulled it out. Immediately, Frisk cried out in pain, thrashing slightly in Asgore's hold. Their breathing went erratic and they whimpered, before going still once more, their features smoothing out. Alphys threw the bloody stick to the side and stepped forward, wrapping the wound in gauze. 

“T-there” she said, “That’s the first concern”. She sighed, “I-I’m pretty sure t-they have h-hypothermia too, but there's not much we can do about that until we get them h-home.”. Toriel nodded, “Then let's get going, the sooner we get there the better.”.

The monsters piled back in the car, with Flowey telling them he would meet them there. Papyrus drove this time, with Frisk wrapped in a blanket, head in Toriel’s lap as she gently stroked their hair. 

\----------------

It wasn't long before they arrived back at Toriel's house, the monsters went inside and Toriel carried Frisk into the guest bedroom. The other monsters followed behind, and Alphys pulled several bags and boxes from the dimensional boxes on her phone. Opening one, she extended a metal rod with a hook on the end that some present recognized as an IV. 

Alphys turned to the others, “W-we’ve got to c-clean their w-wounds” she said, a slight blush crossing her face. Nodding, the others vacated the room, except for Toriel who stayed to help her. The two monsters cleaned the slumbering child as best they could, wrapping their legs in fresh splints and bandaging their various wounds. Toriel dumped their ruined clothes in the trash before helping Alphys slip them into warm pajamas. 

A half hour later, and Frisk was tucked into their bed. An IV drip ran from their bedside into their right wrist, a bag of morphine on one hook, and green healing magic on the other. Their legs were propped up on pillows, their body covered in bandages.   
Toriel and Alphys returned to the living room to find the others unconscious as well, their bodies strewn over various pieces of furniture, even Flowey, who had allowed Asgore to transplant him into a flower pot was asleep. It wasn't long before the two monsters joined them in sleep.


	15. Chapter 14: Frisk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of an interlude, I would have uploaded sooner, but the holidays made it really hard for me to get anything done, that being said, this is definitely the most fucked up chapter yet (and probably the most fucked up its going to get) so just consider yourself warned.

_You close the door behind you. With a shuddering breath you slide down the door until your rear meets the floor. Your head falls into trembling hands and you let out a shuddering sigh of relief. Finally, a moment of respite._

_It had cost you nearly all of your remaining gold in order to rent this room at the MTT resort, that lady with a hand for a face had been nice enough, if a bit disinterested. You honestly aren't sure if this was a good idea, you might not be able to get supplies if you need them but you need a break. you just need a little time to get some sleep and not have someone try to kill you for a little while._

_Kicking off your shoes you flop down into the plush blankets of the massive bed that dominates the room, the bed is so big compared to you and so soft that its like laying in a swimming pool filled with blankets. Your a little intimidated by its size if you're honest, it wouldn't be hard to get lost in this thing. Deciding that there are worse places to get lost, you tunnel under the covers and up to what you assume to be the middle of the bed, curling up with your entire body submerged in the soft fabric._

_It's dark under here, it's a little funny in a not funny at all kind of way. You used to be afraid of the dark a long time ago, now you’re afraid of different things. Yout eyes shoot open in realization, has it really been that long? You honestly don't know anymore. It feels like you’ve been down in this place for an eternity despite that you don't think it could have been more than one or two days since you fell down. You squeeze your eyes shut once more, maybe it's been longer than that, you honestly can't tell, everytime you die and are sent back you feel like you lose a little more of yourself. Everytime the abyss reaches up to claim you and your jolted back into being you can't shake the feeling of_ wrong wrong wrong _that shoots through you. It isn't natural, it isn't_ right _._

_You feel a stinging behind your eyes as a thought occurs to you. What if it never stops? What if, even if you manage to get out of here and survive long enough to live your life you still won't be able to die? Will you just be forced to live the same days over and over again? You don't think you could handle that. Not for the first time since you fell down here, you find yourself wishing that when you landed on those flowers that you hadn't gotten back up. You never used to have such thoughts before, but the more you die and the more you come back the more you wish that you could just_ stay _dead._

_It's that final thought that makes everything come apart. You begin to sob softly beneath the covers. Up until now, you haven't had too much time to dwell on it. You had to push forward, had to keep moving to stay alive. Now that you’re here and have a moment to yourself the full horror of everything that’s happened overwhelms you. You feel like you’re drowning, like some massive invisible weight is smothering you. You cant breath, everything is too hot and too close and you can't keep going. You can't do this anymore, you can’t you can’t you can’t. According to Alphys you still have to make it through the CORE and new home before you even get the chance to go home, not that you ever had one to go back to but that’s beside the point._

 _At some point you think you started screaming, it's hard to tell over the panic and fear. With a yelp you hit the floor. It seems your thrashing has finally taken you over the edge of the bed. The pain of the impact gives you something to focus on, you need_ MORE. _You slam your head into the bed frame as hard as you can. The pain makes your head spin, but it still isn't enough. You do it again and again and again, and white flashes behind your eyes. The small part of your mind that isn't drowning in panic and madness thinks that someone might come to investigate the ruckus, but no one comes. No one ever comes. The thought makes you slam your head into the frame harder, this time you feel something wet drip down your forehead and you scream louder. One last time you slam your head into the frame, this time white and dark spots explode across your vision and the pain makes you feel like your head is splitting apart._

_The pain disappears and you wake up an hour in the past. Looking around, the CORE looms in the distance. You stand still for a moment, staring off at it. Then you start to laugh._

_And laugh_   
_And laugh_

_Hotland is silent save for the sound of your cackles._

\-------------------------------

You open your eyes, its dark. Blinking tiredly you try to sit up. You freeze, you can't move. Your body feels sluggish and as you try and make your aching muscles cooperate you’re overcome with an incredible fatigue. Your head spins, exhaustion overwhelms you and you surrender the few inches of headway you’ve made and collapse back onto your pillow. 

Your half lidded eyes inspect your body. Looking down at your feet, you can just make out white cloth wrapped around both your legs, enveloping them completely. Shifting slightly, you feel something under your shirt, something is wrapped around your abdomen, another bandage? Noticing an ache in your wrist, you look down and see a pair of tubes jutting out of your flesh. As your gaze follows them you see the IV stand by your bedside. As you do, you notice that your right arm is bandaged in a similar manner to your legs, gauze enveloping it with a small splotch of red standing out in the center.

The sight of your own blood relieves your mind of the fog that lies over it. Your eyes blow open and you jolt into a sitting position and immediately regret it. Your entire body hurts, your legs especially feel like their burning. You let out a whimper as you lay yourself back down, waves of pain washing over you. Gritting your teeth, you try and force the pain into a corner of your mind and look at your surroundings.

Your in your bedroom, but somethings different. Collapsed in a chair by the door sits Sans. He’s asleep, hardly unusual for him, but the dark circles under his eyes most certainly are. What happened? Why are you hurt? Why is Sans here? Why-.

The past returns to you. Getting home from school with Burgerpants, Everyone sitting in the living room, your notebook, running away, Flowey. Your breathing becomes erratic, why are you here? You can't be here! Your not safe, you need to get away before they hurt you!

You manage to calm yourself down enough to not wake the slumbering skeleton. You force your breaths to calm and try to think of a way out of this mess. Your eyes dart to your window. Your bedroom is on the first floor, if you could get over to it you could escape. With great effort, you slowly try to slide off of your bed. It doesn't work, your arms give out as you attempt to lower your body to the floor and you hit the ground. Pain flares throughout your body and you bite down hard on your fist to stifle a cry, you taste blood. 

With a whimper, you slowly begin to drag yourself to the window. Its slow going, even though the window can't be more than five feet away moving is agony. Tears stream down your face as you pull yourself forward with your arms, wiggling slightly to help yourself along. It hurts, the pain is almost unbearable but you’ve been through worse. Gritting your teeth you force yourself along, if you could get through the underground you could do this!

Finally reaching the window your arms give out and you take a moment to catch your breath. Your body is covered in sweat, turning your head you look at Sans, he’s still asleep. With a small sigh of relief you begin to try to pull yourself up to the windowsill. This hurts too, If your careful, your arms can take most of your body weight. It’s exhausting, and your right arm feels like its on fire. you manage to reach the windowsill.

Taking a deep breath, you reach up to try and unlock the window only to pause.

Your soul is hovering in front of your chest, glowing blue.

“Where do you think you’re going bud?” says Sans.


	16. Chapter 15: Sans

Sans stared wordlessly at the human child before him. He figured the kid would try something like this, that was part of the reason he had offered to stay with them tonight. Despite that, he couldn't help but be confused as to how they had managed to get out of bed and all the way across the room with their injuries and without waking him. 

Sans was left with little time to ponder this as the child finished pushing themselves up and began to reach for the lock on the window. “Oh no you don’t” he thought, “you’re not leaving on my watch.”. Raising a hand, he drew out the child's SOUL, turning it blue he used his magic to lift them a few inches off the ground, enough to hold them still and take the weight off their body. 

“Heh” he said, “Where do you think you’re going bud?”. Frisk went still, their breathing hitched. Gently turning them around to face him, he finally managed to get a good look at the child and immediately cringed. 

Frisk was drenched in sweat, presumably from their journey across the room, the bandages that enveloped their small body had begun to seep red in some places from agitated wounds. More importantly however, was the look on the child's face.

Their face was pale, their expression gaunt and haunted, they looked absolutely terrified. As they regarded each other, their breathing became erratic. Sans watched as the child before him was all but transformed. Tears welled in their eyes and they began to hyperventilate, thrashing in his grip. “W-whoa buddy!” he said, “Just calm down a sec okay, I just wanna talk.”. 

The child didn't seem to hear him, if anything, they began to panic more. Their hyperventilating devolved into full on sobbing as panic overwhelmed them. Their thrashing became more violent, to the point where Sans was having trouble holding them still. Regretfully, he hovered the child back over to their bed, and laid them down on it, using his magic to pin their limbs and prevent them from making their already grievous injuries worse. 

The door to the bedroom creaked open, Sans could just make out Asgore’s worried expression out of the corner of his eye. Momentarily turning his head, he gestured for him to leave the room, if the kid was panicking this bad with just him, the last thing they needed was more people in here. Thankfully, Asgore seemed to get the message, sliding the door shut. Sans returned his attention to the crying child, whose panic attack had seemingly only become worse in the brief moment he was distracted.

Frisk’s crying became hysterical, they thrashed and writhed on the bed. Sweat began to bead on San’s brow, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold them like this, he had to find a way to calm them down. “Shit!” he cursed under his breath as they bucked violently, “c'mon kid you gotta work with me here!”. Crossing over to where they lay, he knelt down by the child's bed and ran a hand through their hair. “Shhh, kiddo, its okay, your safe, just breath.”. 

He began humming a random tune, trying to keep his expression calm despite the storm of emotions brewing within him. Sans wasn't sure how long it went on like that for, him, kneeling by their bedside, running his phalanges through their hair and trying his best to coach them through their panic. 

Eventually, the child's struggling began to die down, whether this was due to his ministrations or simple exhaustion he didn’t know, but he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. He released some of the pressure on the kids soul, letting them breathe and move better, but kept a gentle hold on in with his magic, lest the child return to their panicked state. 

Slowly, they became still, and their hysteria gave way to quiet hiccuping sobs, their body tense as if in anticipation of something. Running his fingers through their hair one last time he withdrew his hand, looking down sadly at them. Eventually, Frisk cracked open an eye to look at them. Though their panic had died down, fear was very much still present in their eyes. The child’s body trembled softly, their breathing shallow.

To San’s surprise Frisk spoke. “P-p-please… d-don’t hurt m-me.” they choked out with a shuddering breath. San’s expression crumpled, “Kid… I-I aint gonna hurt you.” he stammered. The child seemed hesitant, they didn't believe him Sans realized, all things considered, he probably wouldn’t believe him either. Looking off to the side, Sans came to a decision. “Kid, I-I’m gonna let you go.” he said “Just, promise me you aint gonna try and run off again ok? I know your scared, and that's ok, but I’m really not gonna hurt you, none of us are okay?”. 

The child didn't seem too reassured, but though the fear lingered they eventually gave a small nod. Letting out a sigh, Sans relinquished his hold on their SOUL, gently pushing it back into their chest. Frisk took in a shuddering breath, working to calm their racing heartbeat. Letting out a sigh of relief, Sans stood up. 

The skeleton grabbed the discarded blanket off of the floor, and draped it over the child. “I’m gonna put your legs up ok kid?” he asked, “If you want me to stop just lemme know.”. Grabbing a pair of pillows from the foot of their bed, Sans gently used his magic to lift their legs and slid them underneath. “Ok kid.” he said, “we gotta do one more thing ok?”. 

Stepping back to the head of their bed, moving slowly as to not startle them, he gently took hold of their wrist. Immediately Frisk tensed, looking up at him fearfully. Sans winced, “I know your scared kiddo” he said, “but I really need to do this okay? Don't worry, it’ll help with the pain.”. Reluctantly, the Frisk allowed Sans to pull their Wrist away from their chest and reinsert the IV needles that had been torn out in their escape attempt. “There we go” he said “good as new”. Looking down at the child, they were blinking tiredly, their small face overcome by fatigue and Sans knew he needed to leave them alone in order for them to rest. 

“You gonna be okay if I leave you alone for a little while?” Sans asked and Frisk nodded, “Alright” he said, “I'm just gonna be down the hall, if you need anything just call ok.”. Already half asleep, the child nodded, their eyes closing. With a weary chuckle, Sans snagged the Jack Skellington plushie from the foot of their bed and put it next to the child before leaving the room and quietly closing the door.

Once out of the room, Sans heaved a sigh and made his way down the hall and into the living room. Immediately he was greeted by five worried looking monsters and one annoyed looking flower. Flowey spoke up, “So I'm guessing by all the screaming and crying that they weren't exactly pleased when they woke up.”. Sans scowled at the flower’s lack of tact but nodded.

“Yeah” he said, “kid actually tried to climb out the window to get away, things just sort of went downhill from there.”. Undyne looked up from trying to kill Flowey with her gaze, “ are they…?” she trailed off and Sans chuckled “ They’re asleep now.” he said, “ I think I managed to convince em not to try and run off anymore. That being said, Their still pretty scared, I think they got the idea in their head that now that we’re remembering stuff we’re all suddenly gonna start trying to kill em again.”. 

“We have to talk to them about this at some point” Toriel said, “as sad as it may be, they are afraid of us for a good reason, we need to be careful as to how we approach them.”. Those present nodded in agreement, “let's take this one step at a time” Sans said, “For now let's let the kid get some rest and then once they settle down a bit we’ll try and see if they're up for a game of twenty questions”. Flowey scoffed, “this can't possibly end well.”. No one had anything to say to that.  



	17. Chapter 16: Decision

Time passes. You don't know how long. You find yourself drifting in and out of slumber, dreams and memories blur together, few of them pleasant. 

_You’re bowled over by a jet of soapy water. Attempting to get to your feet you curse as your leg slips and you’re sent sprawling back to the ground. Your eyes widen in alarm as you realize your mistake. “Wosh u mouth!” another jet of water hits you square in the face and ithurtsithurtsyoucan’tbreathe-_

You wake up, your breathing feels funny, sensations are muted, blanketed in a sense of exhaustion and a dull ache. You find yourself slipping into another dream. 

_You struggle futilely, trying desperately to break free from your binds. Your captor giggles meanly from a ways above you as you thrash. “Oh!” she exclaims suddenly, a pair of hands clasping her mouth in mock horror. “How rude of me! I almost forgot to introduce you to my pet!” You pause in your escape attempt. Her words fill you with dread and you have a feeling that things are about to get worse. “It’s breakfast time, isn’t it? Have fun you two!”. You tremble as you hear a growl from the darkness in front of you and eight eyes stare at you as a massive creature scuttles out of the darkness, opening its maw and-_

Your eyes shoot open and you choke back a scream. Trying to distract yourself from the nightmare you turn your attention to the room around you. Nothing seems to have changed since you last woke. Laying still, you feel yourself start to drift off once more, but you manage to halt your descent into sleep. You don't want to fall asleep again lest you find yourself trapped within another nightmare, but despite your best efforts you find yourself drifting off.

_You stumble into the room. Taking a moment to catch your breath you observe your surroundings. You find yourself in some sort of ward, beds fill the room, most are dusty and clearly haven't been used in some time, but you find yourself gravitating towards one that seems mostly clean._

_With a sigh you collapse onto the bed, you’ll get up eventually, you just need a few minutes to rest, you can't remember the last time you got any actual sleep. Closing your eyes you curl up on the mattress, not even bothering to cover yourself with the blankets that lay folded at the foot of the bed. Suddenly, you feel a presence behind you, someone, or something is there. You tense, curling up tighter. Whatever it is it’s getting closer, you don't dare turn around out of fear. You brace yourself for the pain of death. Suddenly, you feel something drape over your body. Your breath hitches as something pats your head, and then, as quickly as it came, the presence vanishes. Your body goes slack and you let out a shuddering sigh of relief._  
  
You’re awoken by hushed whispers. You can't make out what they’re saying, but it sounds like several different voices. Your body feels strangely numb, your mind fogged with a dull ache and an overwhelming sense of fatigue. Cracking open an eye, you make out several blobs of color, one tall one, and two shorter ones. Blinking tiredly, you open your eyes fully to take in your surroundings. Your still in your bed, the IV stand at your bedside dripping into your wrist. Someone has tucked your plushie under your arm, and your legs are still propped up on pillows. 

Across the room by the door, stand three monsters, huddled together and in the middle of a hushed conversation. You strain your ears trying to make out what they’re saying but can only catch brief snippets. “-ts important not to startl-” “-make sure their not gon-” “-pefully we can-”. Upon closer inspection, you recognize the monsters to be Toriel, Alphys, and Sans.

You recall your panic attack, Sans had been trying hard to reassure you that you were safe, eventually managing to break through the tide of panic and fear that had been all but drowning you. You want to believe him, maybe you should, they’re certainly going through a lot of trouble to keep you alive.

Maybe they just want answers? What if they’re just waiting to make sure you can't reset before they-. You stop that train of thought before it can even leave the station, if you never have another panic attack again it will be too soon. You squeeze your eyes shut and wish that this was all a bad dream, that you could somehow will away the memories that have been mysteriously returned to them. 

They’ll probably want answers, want to know what you remember, and if you can still reset, and what happened in the other timelines. You hope they don't want specific details, your not sure you could handle reliving them. Opening your eyes again you let out a frightened yelp. It seems your awakening has not gone unnoticed. 

The three monsters are standing by your bedside. Toriel is by your head, looking down at you with a concerned expression. Sans is next to her, hands in his pockets and an easygoing grin that's a few times more fake than usual. Alphys is her usual nervous self, eyes darting about and not able to meet your gaze. 

Toriel is the one who speaks up first. “My child, how are you feeling?” you hesitate to answer, physically you feel exhausted, your broken legs throb painfully despite the morphine being fed into your wrist. After a tense moment muster the courage to reply, “m’fine”. Sans chuckles at that, though its without humour, “If this is your idea of fine kiddo than I’d hate to see what you think not fine looks like”. You wince, you should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Alphys speaks up, “d-does it hurt?”. You give a small nod, “A little”. Sans lets out a sigh, “well could be worse” he says. With a grunt, he sits down on your bed, close enough to the edge that he doesn't disturb your place. 

“Ok kiddo” he sighs “so, you’ve probably already realized that we’ve started remembering stuff.”. You hesitate, but give a small nod, unable to meet any of their gazes. “Now I know you’re probably pretty exhausted, but the sooner we get this out of the way, the sooner you can rest.”. You nod reluctantly, you had a feeling he’d say that.

“That said,” he continues, “you got some options as to how you wanna go about this.”. You don't react, and he takes this as a sign to continue. “If you want, we can bring people in one at a time, or we could do it all at once and get it over with.”. Alphys butts in, “B-but! Y-you dont h-have to talk about anything y-you dont want to!”. Your eyes widen in surprise, in your minds eye you had pictured a sort of interrogation, you didn't think you’d be able to opt out of telling them certain things. 

Toriel speaks up, “My child, I know you are afraid of how we will react, I know that this will take you time to be able to accept, but despite out actions in the past, none of us have any desire to harm you, and none of us have ever been more ashamed of ourselves having learned what we did to you.”.

Your hands start to shake and you clutch your covers tightly. Toriel continues, “It is obvious to all of us now that you are suffering, that you have been suffering for quite some time now. We want to _help_ you Frisk, please. We don't want you to hide what is hurting you anymore, if you are hurt, we want you to tell us so that we can help.”. You don't know why that reassurance is enough to bring tears to your eyes, but it is. 

Seeing your distress, Toriel kneels down and reaches out for you. You can't help the involuntary flinch that happens when she does so, but you allow her to wrap her arms around you and you press your face against her. You stay like that for a while, the room silent save for your sniffles. Eventually, you lean back, wiping at your eyes and nose with your sleeve. “I-I’d like to talk to Flowey if that’s ok” you say quietly. The three briefly look at each other before nodding. “Sure thing kiddo” Sans says “no bones about it.”.

\-------------------

You and Flowey regard each other from his new place on your nightstand. Flowey scowls “So you're awake huh? About time, you scared them half to death.”. You feel a pang of guilt and look away, “S-sorry.” you stammer. 

Flowey sighes, “So, what are you gonna do?” he asks. You hesitate, taking a moment to think it over. You look at Flowey, “I-I’m gonna tell them everything.” you say, trying not to let your voice waver. Flowey looks at you in surprise, “You sure? That's like, alot.”. You nod, “I know” you say quietly, “but I feel like I need to, It's all going to come out eventually right? Might as well get it over with.”. 

Flowey gives you an odd look, “If you say so” he says, “you gonna go into detail or?”. You swallow, “Only as much as they ask for.” you say hoarsely. Flowey nods, “well, tell me when you’re ready…” You nod. You’ve made up your mind, there’s no going back now, the only way out is through.

“The thought of finally being free from the burden of your secrets fill you with!…….. 

  
Anxiety. 


	18. Chapter 17: Purge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk is a broken child.

You and Flowey talk for a while. Most of it is just catching up. He tells you what he got up to these last six months, you tell him about how things went when you first came down the mountain, its… nice. Its odd to think that he’s the one you’re least afraid of, out of everyone, he’s easily the one who hurt you the most. But… he _knows_ , he’s been where you’ve been, felt the same things you’ve felt. If he could still feel, you suspect that he would be in a similar state to you, anxious, afraid, even a little angry. Maybe it’s because of what happened in that final battle, but you don't think so, if these last six months have proved anything to you, its that being nice to someone you hurt doesn't just make the hurt go away. 

Flowey… he’s many things, but one thing he’s always been, almost without exception, is honest. Brutally, callously, even cruelly honest. It’s strangely comforting, to have someone that always speaks exactly what's on their mind, doesn’t try to SPARE your feelings or make the truth more bearable. You think that might be why he doesn't scare you, you admire him a little. You wish you had that quality, it would make what is to come more bearable. Flowey’s not a good person, not by a long shot, but right now, he’s exactly the person you need. 

“You done staring at me yet?” he asks. You jolt, you spaced out for a second, “Sorry” you mumble, “just… thinking.”, steeling your nerves, you decide to ask him a question. “Do... “ you gulp, “do you think this is the right thing to do?”. Flowey looks at you oddly, probably perturbed that you’re asking the one person in the universe with zero sense of empathy or guilt what the ‘right’ thing to do is. “Depends” Flowey says, “Right as in morally? Or right as in for you specifically?”, you shrug, wincing as the wound in your arm reminds you of its presence. 

Flowey looks away, brow creased in thought before replying. “Honestly” he says “I think it's both.” you look at him in surprise, that wasn't the answer you were expecting. You swallow, “but, what if it hurts them?” you ask, and he laughs, a cold mocking sound that you’ve heard in more than a few nightmares. “So what?” he says, “why should you care if it hurts them? They need to know, both for themselves and you.”. He stares at you, “you’ve _earned_ the right to speak your mind, you shouldn't have to keep secrets that hurt you on top of everything else.”. Somehow you find a way to meet his gaze, “If they can't handle the truth of what they did then they shouldn’t have done those things in the first place, you don’t owe them shit.”. “Language.” you say weakly, and he rolls his eyes.

Flowey’s answer is exactly what you’ve come to expect from him, brutal, simple, and unkind. You aren't surprised that he thinks you shouldn’t care, what is surprising however is the realization that you _agree_ with him. You shouldn't care what they think, you shouldn't care but you do. Story of your life. But, as you think about it, you realize he’s right. You’ve lived these last six months stewing in denial and fear and you can't take it anymore. You need to do this, for them, yes. But mostly for _you_.

If only this once, you can afford to be selfish.

If only this once, you can afford not to care.

\-------------------------------

  
You text Sans that you’re ready. Not ten seconds after you hit send he appears in your room, hands in his pockets and unease on his face. “Ready kid?” he asks, and you nod. Its now or never. Sans leaves the room and returns pushing something that you recognize to be a wheelchair. You wrap your arms around Flowey’s pot and allow Sans to hover you into the chair. 

You set Flowey in your lap, ignoring his huff of indignation, and try and steady your breathing. Sans grabs the IV hooked up to your arm, and begins to wheel you out, the IV stand trailing behind you, wreathed in blue. You try and calm your racing heartbeat as you roll down the hall, emerging into the living room.You keep your eyes locked on Flowey's pot as you enter, but as you come to a stop and Sans walks away to join the others, you raise your head to meet their gaze. 

Monsters occupy the various pieces of furniture in front of you, their seats the same as they were before you ran away. Each one wears an expression of concern, eyes tracing over your battered body. Undyne speaks up first, “Hey punk, how are you feeling?”. You give a shaky smile, “like I fell off a cliff.”. She winces at that and you feel a pang of guilt, this isn't really how you wanted to start off. “DOES IT HURT TINY HUMAN?” Papyrus asks, his voice sounds less happy than usual. You give a small nod, “It's not that bad” you mumble, you’ve had way worse, but you don't say that part aloud. There is silence for a few minutes before you speak up. 

“I-I know you have questions” you say, “I’ll try and answer them the best I can...b-but…”. You trail off, the words breaking apart in your mouth before you find the strength to continue, “you need to know that you want the answers” you say quietly. The silence that follows that is even heavier than the last.

Surprisingly, Alphys is the first to speak up. “S-so how d-does all this work?”. You should have figured they’d lead with that, Sans said he explained it as best he could, but they want to hear it from your perspective. 

“I-in the underground” you begin, “sometimes I would see s-stars.”. They look confused at that, but you continue, “they were small, and I would sometimes reach out and touch them. They felt, warm, and safe, and a lot of the time I would just, sit next to them before moving on.”. The room is silent. “Sometimes” you say, forcing yourself to press on, “I would...d-d-die, and then I”d wake up back at the last one I touched.”. 

“So you did die.” Sans says, he looks like he seriously doesn't want to ask the next question, but he does anyway. “H-how many times?”.

You’re unable to meet anyone's gaze, you feel your expression crumple and when you speak your voice is a hoarse whisper. “I-I don't know,” and quieter, “I lost count.”. You continue, Unable to stop yourself now that you have begun.

“The first time was in the ruins, I backtracked after Toriel left to go shopping, and was impaled by the spikes on the puzzle in the room before.”. You give a broken laugh, and don't even care how unhinged you probably look right now. “It hurt so much, it went right through my entire body, just… skewered me.”. You give a choked sob, “I woke up back at the entrance to the ruins, and I was so _confused_ I didn't know what was happening.”. 

You look up, eyes unseeing. “And then it just… _kept happening_. Every time I met a monster they would try and fight me, and then they’d kill me, I wasn't very good at dodging, the only way I could make it through was trial and error. Sometimes I’d die to the environment, I froze to death in snowdin a few times, drowned in waterfall, succumbed to heatstroke in hotland.”. 

You suck in a breath, “It happened over and over, it wasn't always quick. Sometimes I would make it through a fight where I was wounded, and then would just… bleed out afterwards, Even when I found someone to help they usually didn't, either they couldn't or they wouldn’t. It was worse every time, whenever I died I felt like I was losing a part of myself, like something was trying to pull me in one direction, and something else was trying to pull me in another. It felt like being ripped apart, even when I died painlessly, coming back still hurt. It was so dark, so cold.”. 

You're not even paying attention to the others anymore, you find yourself caught in a torrent, words tumbling out of your mouth in a flood of sorrow and rage and grief. “I tried to give up, A few times I would try and find someplace to hide, just stay there forever but it never worked. Eventually someone would find me, either a normal monster or a member of the royal guard and they would kill me or I'd starve to death. It took so much trial and error to figure out how to spare everyone, some people didn't even know they were hurting me but others did. There were even a few who seemed to _enjoy_ it.”.

You giggle, you feel giddy, lighter than air. “Nowhere was safe, everywhere I went I was hunted, like an _animal_. I couldn't even catch my breath most of the time, it was constant. I died and I died and I died, over and over and over and over and over and OVER.”. 

You're breathing heavily, you think you started yelling at some point, you aren't sure. “I even killed _myself_ once, I fell asleep and had a nightmare and when I woke up I just… did it. Pain became my only way of life.”. That's when you start to laugh. You laugh and laugh, the others look increasingly concerned but you're not crying you're laughimg, even though its hard to breath. even as the sounds break apart in your mouth and tears run down your face. 

Your snapped out of your rant by a soft touch on the top of your head. You look up, acknowledging the other occupants of the room for the first time since your purge had begun. Toriel stands above you, tears streaming freely down her face. The others have all gotten up as well and stand in a semi-circle around you, each expression filled with untold grief and remorse. At once, they crowd around you, wrapping you in their arms and letting their tears join your own. 

That's when you start to wail, it feels like your soul is being ripped apart, like every emotion you've ever had is pouring out of you at once. You sob uncontrollably, your howls fill the room as you hide your face in their shoulders and weep. 

“I-I-I _hate_ you” you say, your voice a broken croak, “I hate you I hate you I h-hate y-you so m-m-much.”. 

  
You whimper, “p-p-pleas-e d-dont l-leave m-me.”.


	19. Chapter 18: MERCY

For the first time in what felt like forever there was silence. If one had stepped into the small cottage one could be forgiven for thinking that its inhabitants had turned to stone. Various monsters and a human child lay sprawled across furniture, each trying to come to terms with what they had heard and what they had done. 

The human child snored softly on the couch, their sobs having long subsided as they cried themselves out and succumbed to the exhaustion that rapidly seemed to be becoming the defining factor of their life. Their tiny body sat in the lap of their adoptive mother, who was, not for the first time, questioning her right to be called that. Sans sat in Frisk’s now vacated wheelchair, if only because of a lack of ample seating. For the first time in what felt like forever he wasn't smiling and the stout skeleton felt as if he would never be able to have light sit in his eyesockets again. 

Alphys and Undyne occupied the other side of the couch. Undyne had her girlfriend wrapped in her arms, her face buried in Alphy’s crest, though for who’s comfort this was could be debated. Papyrus occupied a kitchen chair, and his posture and numb expression would have looked far more natural on his brother. 

Asgore sat in Toriel’s armchair, nursing a cup of tea, the old king felt, as he often did, that the drink was the only companion whose company he would ever deserve. Flowey, for his part was being very quiet. The flower was enveloped in phantom pains as memories of the last time he had heard Frisk scream like that caused the void where his soul should be to ache with an intensity that had him wishing he had stayed in the underground. 

The silence was momentarily broken as the child shifted in their sleep, letting out a small mumble. Toriel sighed and stood up, Frisk still cradled in her arms. “I am going to put them to bed, they have had a long night”. The others nodded dully as Toriel continued, “I would suggest that you all return home in order to get some rest yourselves, there is… much to consider.”. 

Sans stood up, the lights in his eyes flickering back into being as he did so, “probably a good idea, cmon bro”. Papyrus looked down from where his eyes had been boring into the ceiling, he blinked tiredly, and stood up, walking over to Toriel. “If you or Frisk need anything” he said quietly, don't hesitate to call” Toriel's expression softened at the skeletons tone, his usual boisterous and optimistic demeanor nowhere to be found. The two brothers exited the house, and Alphys stood up. “C-cmon Undyne, there's nothing more we c-can do here t-tonight.”. The Captain looked as if she was about to protest, but it died in her throat as she saw the drained look on her girlfriend’s face.

The two monsters vacated the cottage, leaving only Flowey and the two boss monsters. Toriel turned to look at Asgore, “You’re welcome to stay the night if you like” she said, “I know you live a way’s away”. The king looked up at her in surprise, it was unlike Toriel to be so tolerant of him, “A-are you sure?” he asked “I don’t want to intrude-”. He was interrupted by the child shifting in Toriel's arms, their hands moving to clutch the front of her robe in small fists. The two monsters were silent as the child mumbled in their sleep before settling down once more. Toriel's gaze returned to the king, “I believe that we are beyond that now” she said, and Asgore caught a brief glimpse of the haunted expression on the queen's face. 

Toriel turned to Flowey, “you are welcome to stay as well, if you have nowhere else to go.”. The flower made a non commital grunt, unable to meet her gaze. The queen turned and slowly climbed the stairs, careful not to wake the child in her arms. Entering Frisk’s room, she laid them down carefully on their bed, taking time to elevate their broken legs. Walking back down the stairs, Toriel entered the kitchen to find her ex-husband sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of tea.

The queen hesitated a moment, before pouring herself a cup of her own from the pot on the stove, and sitting opposite her ex. There was much they needed to discuss, and neither of them were under the delusion that sleep would come to them tonight. 

The two royals sat in silence for a moment, neither quite sure how to phrase what they wanted to say and it was Toriel who finally broke it. “I feel I should apologize.” the king looked up in surprise, Toriel continued. “I-I have been… reevaluating my actions in the past, both in regards to Frisk, but… also in regards to you.”. “Tori you know I can't accept that, you were completely in the right to-” “No” the queen said, “no I was not. Even if my actions were the lesser of two evils I should never have abandoned you like I did, you were in just as much pain as I was and I should have tried to keep you from going down that path.”. The king fell silent, his protests dying in his throat, “It was foolish of me to try and ‘take the high road’ as I believe the saying goes, and it is even more apparent how foolish it was in light of… recent events.”. 

The queen began to shake, “It was… easier… to be angry” she said “easier to… to bury myself and try to pretend that I did not feel that way, that I had done no wrong.”. The king was unable to meet her gaze, “I did not think that you would ever forgive me” he said, his voice barely audible, “I know that I will not ever forgive myself”. Toriel stared for a moment, “I… I don't know if forgiveness is mine to give Asgore, I am not the one that you killed… in the end, you answer only to yourself, and to the people you hurt.”. The king shrunk in on himself before Toriel continued, “But… for what little it may ultimately be worth… I forgive you.”. The king looked up, and for the first time in what may well have been hundreds of years, the two monarchs shared a moment of understanding.

A scream pierced the night.

Shooting to their feet the two royals became instantly alert, eyes scanning the room for danger. A second scream followed it, filled with distress. Toriel realized where it had come from, “Frisk!” she shouted, eyes widening in panic.”.   
  
The boss monsters raced up the stairs, the floor groaning in protest under Asgore’s weight. Nearly knocking the door to Frisk’s room off of its hinges in her haste to get inside, Toriel was horrified to see the state her child was in. Frisk’s body was bathed in sweat, their hair matted to their face and their blanket coiled around them like a serpent. Most terrifyingly however were the child's eyes, they were wide open and unseeing with pupils dilated in fear. The two monsters stood frozen, as Frisk thrashed and screamed at some terrible thing that only they could see.

Toriel raced over, doing her best to pin the child’s arms, trying to prevent them from hurting themselves. Asgore remained frozen for a moment longer, before rushing over helping Toriel restrain the child. Frisk let out a strangled moan, writhing in the royal’s grip. Toriel recalled Sans telling her about something similar that had happened to Frisk when they had stayed at his house, he said that he had been unable to wake them but that they had eventually calmed down after he had held them still for long enough. Eventually, the small child’s wails became softer and softer, becoming whimpers before they went silent.

Swallowing, Toriel spoke “Frisk?” she called softly, “you had a nightmare my child, you are safe, it was just a dream.”. Frisk’s eyes cleared and they let out a strangled sob. Toriel held back her own tears and pulled the child into an embrace, rubbing circles on their back as they shook in her arms. The queen Sat on the bed and pulled Frisk into her lap, resting against the far wall. Asgore moved to sit next to his ex-wife and took one of the child's hands, rubbing the back of it gently with a massive thumb.

Frisk’s sobbing became softer, leaving them a whimpering, hiccuping mess. “It’s okay Frisk, it was just a dream”. “I-I *hic I j-just wan’t-t it to sto-o-op. *hic why w-won’t i-it st-o-op?”. Toriel was unable to stop tears from welling in her eyes at the child’s despairing tone, she tightened her hold on them and buried her face in their hair, beside her, her ex-husband was in a similar state. 

“I-I know Frisk… I am so s-so _sorry_ ”. The child shook in her arms, letting out a pitiful noise and burying themselves further into her embrace. Soon their sobs died down, and they pulled away slightly.

When Frisk spoke, their voice was little more than a hoarse croak, “I-I w-want to forgive y-you” they said, “I-I w-want to forgive you so bad but I _can’t_.”. The two royals stared at them sadly, their earlier conversation returning to their minds. “I-it hurts” Frisk whispered, their voice barely audible, “it h-hurts so b-bad, e-every time I fall a-asleep… I just want it t-to stop hurting.”. “We know my child...we… we know.”. “I-I cant d-do it yet” they said, their face flushing with guilt, “I w-want to but I-I cant… n-not yet”. “We know little one” Asgore rumbled, “it is alright”. “N-no it's not” Frisk said “its not, it's not, its _hurting_ you.”. 

The child pulled at their hair, their expression filled with distress. Toriel grasped their wrists gently, pulling their arms away from their head. “My child… it is alright. I know personally how difficult forgiveness can be, especially when one has been hurt so badly, and so much.”. “B-but” Frisk stammered weakly “Frisk” Asgore rumbled, “You do _not_ have to be perfect, you do not have to be all forgiving. If you cannot forgive us now that is alright, even if you never do, we will understand, we are here for you young one.”. 

The child sniffed and pressed themselves back into their mother’s embrace. “M-mom” Frisk began, “Yes my child?” Toriel asked, “Thank you for understanding, I-I don't know when I’ll be able to forgive you g-guys but when I do, I-I promise that I’m going to mean it. I-I love you g-guys”. “I know my child” She said “I know”.  
  
The two royals embraced the child, their small body sandwiched between them. They stayed like that until morning.  



	20. Chapter 20: A Breif Respite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some light fluff in this chapter just to ensure that the story's tone is as wildly inconsistent as possible.

Despite your views on violence you’re just about ready to kill to go outside. Being confined to strict bed rest these last two weeks has done your mood no favors and your inner child that somehow still exists is itching to just get up and run around. There is more than one reason why that would end poorly however so you do your best to grit your teeth and tough it out.

Your friends, for their part, have been almost psychotically protective. Toriel is probably the worst offender, stopping just short of encasing you in bubble wrap, but they all seem on edge. Your a little torn, on one hand they know now, and the fact that they aren't shunning you or trying to kill you should be a relief. On the other hand, it's...hard. The nightmares still happen on an almost nightly basis, and you aren't so optimistic as to think they’ll stop any time soon, but it's quickly becoming apparent that you aren't the only one suffering from such things. More than once you’ve woken in the middle of the night to see one of your friends standing by your bedside, staring at you as if you might shatter into a million pieces at any moment.   
  
It's getting harder and harder. It's difficult to reconcile the monsters in your dreams with those in the waking world. It's confusing, and in some ways it hurts worse than it did before, when you could be having a nightmare and being burnt to death only to wake up and have your killer sitting by your bedside waiting to give you a hug. 

For the most part everyone skirts around addressing the elephant in the room. That's not to say they are avoiding you, but they’re clearly torn. On one hand they clearly want to know more, want to know the… details… as to how the timelines work and how the barrier was broken and how long you were looping around down there. On the other they don't want to cause you any more distress and they aren't really sure they want the answers. 

You aren't sure how you feel about that either, telling them was difficult, but somehow through all the pain and confusion and terror you came away feeling a little bit lighter, there's one less secret weighing on your back. You suppose there's only one more big one now, but you wouldn't dare share it without Flowey’s permission.

Speaking of Flowey, you’re rapidly becoming more and more grateful for his presence. For all the guilt and sadness that seem to afflict your other friends Flowey is as ever the exception to the rule. He makes surprisingly good company, when he's not insulting you, or issuing death threats, or trying to burn the house down with everyone still inside. He's good at telling stories, and he has quite a number to share, he keeps it light hearted for the most part, but you suspect he's leaving out details. You think your favorite thus far has been the one about the “Flowey fan club” he set up once upon a timeline. He told you that one after you woke from a particularly bad nightmare and by the end of it you had nearly woken Toriel up with your laughter. 

Your roused from your musings by a particularly loud snore from the party to your right. You're not sure why Sans came over, but you have your suspicions. Toriel sits in her armchair a little ways away, prerusing an ancient looking book that’s probably snail related. Sighing, you flop back into the plush cushions of the couch, returning your attention to mettaton’s latest opus. 

The noise draws the attention of your adoptive mother, “Is everything all right my child” she asks, closing her book and setting it on the armrest of her chair. “Fine” you mumble, “bored”, Toriel smiles sadly, “I am sorry that you cannot go and play outside my child, but you heard the doctor, you aren't supposed to engage in any sort of strenuous exercise for the next few weeks.”, you grumble, sinking further into the cushions. 

Sans cracks and eye-lid (eye-socket?) open, “don't see why we can’t take the kid somewhere Tori, the doc said they were on bedrest, not house arrest.”. Toriel looks hesitant, “Well…” she says, your face brightens, “Can I mom? Please please please?” you give her your best puppy-dog eyes, you don't even care if you can't run around if you could just get a change of scenery. 

Toriel sighs, “Well, I recently heard that the Librarby has gotten a new stock of books. I suppose that a brief trip to pick up some new reading material would be alright…”. You cheer, throwing your arms above your head, and wincing as the wound in your shoulder makes itself known. You shove the pain aside before Toriel can have second thoughts and give Sans a high five. Toriel lets out a chuckle at your overly enthusiastic reaction and stands up, “Alright, let me just get my purse and we can be off.”. Sans shrugs, “I’ll tag along too if that's ok, see if they got any joke books, wouldn’t want Papyrus to become complacent. You try and fail to muffle a snicker. 

\-----------------------------

The trip to the library is a short one, you probably would have walked were it not for your injuries. Your bouncing slightly in your seat, ignoring the dull pain it sends down your legs. You pull into the parking lot and Sans and Toriel help you into your wheelchair. The Librarby is a fairly large affair for such a small town, certainly an upgrade from the tiny one in Snowdin. You aren't sure why they kept the misspelled name, you suspect it's mostly out of tradition. 

You can't help the smile that splits your face when you see the rows upon rows of books. You hope you can find some good ones, it would help time pass faster. You wheel yourself down the isles, enthusiastically searching for something that strikes your fancy. 

“Don't stray too far my child!” Toriel calls gently, and you give her a thumbs up. You eventually come to the end of the row of shelves and look up to see the spine of a book that looks promising. Unfortunately it's out of your reach, a few shelves up, your not even sure Toriel could reach it, and the nearest ladder is on the other end of the row. 

Sans sidles up beside you, “Somethin catch you eye kid?” you nod, pointing at the book in question. “Welp, that's a bummer” Sans said “guess there’s nothin else for it”. You give a gasp of surprise as you feel yourself become lighter, floating gently up into reach of the book with your soul glowing blue. “Sans!” Toriel Chides “I hardly think that's safe…”. “Aw cmon Tori” Sans says “nothin wrong with a bit of light reading” that earned a giggle from you, and Toriel tries and fails to hide her smile. 

Sans chuckles, letting you down and back into your chair once you grab the book, “all right kiddo, lets keep lookin”.

\----------------------  
  
Thirty minutes later you have a small stack of books and are checking out. Sans seems to have gotten the best find, having found a joke book that rivaled most encyclopedias in its girth and was undoubtedly so endowed with wretched puns and knock knock jokes that Papyrus would know no peace of mind for years to come. 

Its as you’re crossing the parking lot to get back to the car that it happens. Your rolling along with Sans and Toriel, when you see it. You can't help your reaction, your eyes glaze over slightly and you break away from your group, wheeling yourself as fast as your small arms will allow. “My Child! Where are you going?!” Toriel calls, confused and increasingly concerned as your breath hitches and you feel tears well in your eyes. 

“This can't be real” you think, “please, please, _please_ be real!”. Sitting before you is a small golden star, spinning slowly in place. You hesitantly reach out and touch it, feeling the familiar warmth spread throughout your body as a surge of something determined wells in your soul.

You can't believe it… you didn’t think… you haven't seen one since…

You give a small breathless laugh before you promptly burst into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason this update is so small and took so long to get done is largely because I've been outlining the next section of the story. I originally was going to make this the final chapter of the fic, but after some deliberation I've decided that I'm going to integrate the ideas I had for oneshots in the same universe into this fic as opposed to making them separate entities. I doubt ill be able to include all of them, but the ones I can make a part of this story without reiterating or padding things out I will. hopefully I can give these characters some closure.


	21. A Hiatus-y thing but no, but yes, but no.

Sooo, I might have been a bit overly optimistic. Simply put, things have really exploded for me recently, there's ill family members, an abundance of college related responsibilities and I just don't have the time to work on this fic in the same way I did before. I still hope to be able to update it every so often, but they are going to be WAY less frequent and probably smaller when they do happen. This fic is NOT being abandoned, I fully intend to finish it once I have time to do so and there still might be one chapter updates sprinkled here and there, but I just cannot commit to any sort of schedule and I have the organizational capabilities of a lemon. I'm sorry for anyone who is inconvenienced by this, and I hope to see you again when things settle down.


	22. Chapter 21: Visit

Asgore returned his attention to Toriel. “Thank you for agreeing to watch Frisk on such short notice” she said, “It seems to be one of their good days so I believed that now would be as good a time as any to test out this new arrangement.”. The king nodded, “Of course Tori, you know that you and Frisk are welcome here anytime.”. 

The queen looked off to the side for a moment, a small frown forming on her face. “In truth there is another reason that I asked you to watch them” she said, “Me, Sans and Dr. Alphys will be returning to the underground this afternoon.”. The king returned her frown, “That is...odd, may I ask why?”. The queen sighed, “It is my understanding that they wish to retrieve some of Dr. Alphys’s old lab equipment, they wish to perform some new research with regards to the timelines.”. Asgore’s frown deepened, “I thought we had agreed that it was better to leave such things alone?” he said and Toriel nodded. 

“We did” she said, “But it is their concern that because we do not know why we regained our memories that there may be other effects that could be harmful in nature. I have made sure that they are aware not to involve Frisk in their studies.”. Asgore opened his mouth to reply before promptly shutting it as they were interrupted by a door clicking shut and the sound of soft footsteps coming towards them. “I will explain more later” Toriel whispered, putting on a gentle smile as Frisk rounded the corner. “All unpacked?” she asked and Frisk nodded, “Well, I suppose I should be going, be good won’t you my child?”. Frisk smiled and gave Toriel a hug which she gladly returned. Toriel looked at Asgore, “Make sure that they do their stretches, and no sugar after 7 PM.”the old king nodded.

Toriel walked back to her car, stopping to cast a brief look over her shoulder before leaving without another word. The king and the child stood in silence for a few moments, “Um.” Asgore said, ‘Would you like a cup of tea?”. Frisk shrugged which Asgore took as a yes. The two made their way into the kitchen and the king set about brewing a pot of tea while Frisk sat at the table. 

A few minutes later the kettle screeched and Asgore poured two cups of tea, pausing for a moment to infuse some healing magic into Frisk’s. The king peered out of the corner of his eye at the braces that encased Frisk’s legs, it had been determined that Frisk could begin to put weight on their legs again for extended periods of time so long as they were careful and were sure to wear the plastic and metal apparatus’s. It had been a few days since then and if all went well they would no longer need the braces by the end of the week.

Asgore shook his head, it seemed so complicated for humans to recover from injuries. monsters rarely needed an extended period of time to recover from injury or sickness, healing magic was much more effective on them than on humans, and they were far less susceptible to disease and infection. He supposed he should be grateful that healing magic had any effect on Frisk at all, if he understood things correctly they would have been unable to walk for months had they been healing under their own strength alone, for all that humans could withstand a great deal of injury they could not recover from it quickly.

“So,” he began, handing Frisk their cup and sitting across from them, “have you been keeping up with your schoolwork?”. Frisk screwed up their face and nodded and the king laughed at their expression. “Well,” he continued, “on the bright side, you will not be behind when you return to school”. The child just shrugged and took a sip of their tea.

The afternoon passed much the same way, Asgore invited the child to help him in the garden, and they listened enraptured as he explained the various plants and fruits and how best to care for them. Asgore enjoyed having such an eager audience, Undyne and his own children had never had the patience for gardening and Toriel's own attempts to make plant life grow had always withered and died in an almost comical way. Frisk seemed to latch onto his every word, rarely interjecting themselves and cautiously stepping around and over flowers as they followed him around the enclosure helping him water plants and pull weeds.

Before either of them knew it the sun had started to set, and the two headed inside. Toriel had been generous enough to supply them with dinner before she left, thus sparing Frisk from Asgore’s cooking which wasn’t much better than Undyne’s and the king nearly teared up when he tasted it. Afterwards he supervised Frisk as they performed various stretches on their legs, smiling sympathetically at the child’s discomfort as they worked sore muscles and tendons and gently encouraging them. 

Overall the king thought as he tucked the small human in and turned in for the night himself, the visit had gone much better than he had expected, the child seemed relaxed as they got ready for bed, hopefully they would be able to get a restful sleep that night. 

  
\--------------------------

_The king hummed softly as he watered the flowers that coated the floor of the throne room, their golden petals bobbing gently as droplets of water impacted them. It was a good day, his often crowded schedule barren save for a few minor items and the monarch had gladly taken the opportunity to care for the flowers._

_The watering can ran dry as he moved it back and forth and he took a few minutes to refill it. He returned to his previous spot and resumed his watering of the flowers. As he worked he raised his head to the ceiling of the chamber. The chamber had been carved directly into a natural cave, and above golden rays of sunlight could be seen peering through at him as though it wanted to see him as much as he longed to see it. There were so few places in the underground where sunlight could be seen, he had felt guilty taking this one for himself but his people had insisted._

_He returned his gaze to the flora before him and tilted the watering can once more. Crimson liquid poured out of the nozzle as he did, splattering the flowers below and filling the room with a terrible metallic stench. The king threw down the can as though it were burning hot, stepping backwards as he gagged, his paws coming up to cover his snout._

_Gagging he took another step back but was halted by the sensation of something cold and hard burying itself into his back. He fell to one knee as a childish giggle sounded. He looked as a human child stepped around him and grinned even as tears streaked down their face. “Flowey was right.” they said, “Violence is the only answer any of you understand.”._

\-------------------------

  
Asgore shot up in bed, clutching his chest with one paw. The king squeezed his eyes shut against the tears threatening to spill over and got out of bed, making his way into the living room and all but collapsing onto a large plush couch. 

_What am I doing?_ He thought, how could he keep doing this? How could he keep pretending that everything was all right? Seven innocents had paid the price for his mistakes, six children dead, and one who arguably suffered worse. He was wrong, he couldn’t do this, Frisk wasn’t safe with him. He stared off into space, what time was it? Perhaps it was not too late to call Toriel, to tell her the truth, that he was not ready to care for another child, that he would never be ready to care for another child. He did not deserve to be here, he should have stayed beneath the mountain.

The king’s downwards spiral was halted by the sensation of something small and warm pressing up against his side. He looked down and could barely make out the silhouette of Frisk pressed up against him, the child had their arms wrapped around his middle and he could hear faint sniffles emanating from them. 

The king realized that they must have awoken from a nightmare of their own and sought him out. Carefully, as though they could shatter like glass he wrapped his arms around the child, they were so small compared to him that it felt more like hugging himself. He did not know how long they sat there for, but eventually the sniffles died down. ‘It’s ok” Frisk whispered, their voice shaking like a leaf in the wind, “I wish it was enough to be sorry too.”. They stayed like that until morning.


	23. Chapter 22: Return

Toriel stared up at the yawning mouth of the cavern before her. To think that after all this time she would be returning to the prison in which she had spent most of her life... 

It had taken quite a bit of convincing on the parts of San’s and Dr. Alphys to make her come here. But she supposed that as uncomfortable as she was that this was too important to ignore.

_“W-we just have to be sure.” Alphys said, fidgeting nervously. “Alph’s right Tori, what's the harm in double checking? We dont wanna be caught off guard again.” Sans drawled, “if our theory winds up being true and the last few timelines are starting to bleed into our own then we might not even have seen the worst effects yet”. “I am aware of your concerns” Toriel replied icily, “but you know my feelings on this, time should be left well enough alone.”._

_“We won't be messing with time, not really anyway. Just sort of… observing it.”. Alphys perked up, “Sans is r-right! B-besides, maybe we can find a way to e-end all of this for good! That way we can b-be sure that w-what happened to Frisk won’t happen to anyone else.”. Toriel’s expression darkened at the mention of the human child, but after a few moments of mulling it over she gave a small nod._

_“All right” she said, “but just to be clear, you are not to involve Frisk in any of your studies.”. “We don’t plan on it” the skeleton straightened from where he was leaning against a nearby wall, “If all goes well they’ll never know”._

Alphys had brought up a good point, it would be terrible if what had happened to Frisk would repeat with somebody else. She felt conflicted at the prospect of stopping the Resets for good however, for as many problems as they had caused, they were also the only reason that her child was currently alive. That alone was a sobering thought.

“Something rattling your bones?” said a familiar voice from behind her earning a halfhearted chuckle. “I suppose it is just difficult to be back here” Toriel replied, turning her head to look at the stout skeleton who had come to stand behind her. “Tell me about it” Sans said, “least we’re only gonna be down there a few hours.”. “Is Dr. Alphys here yet?” Toriel asked and Sans shook his head, “She’s on her way, said she had to find something first.”. 

“W-wait for me!” came a shout from behind them. The pair turned to see a short reptilian monster running up the slope towards them, the monster came to a stop in front of them, leaning over and clutching her knees as she tried to catch her breath.”. “Hah...hah… s-sorry I took so long. I-I couldn’t find the key to the storage room”. “It is perfectly alright Dr. we have only just gotten here ourselves.”. 

The lizard monster managed to compose herself, straightening up and futility trying to smooth out the front of her rumpled lab coat. “A-alright, I j-just need to grab some f-files and a couple of i-instruments from m-my lab.” Alright then” the queen said, then let up be off.”.

The trio steeled themselves and made their way through the gaping orifice that led to the cave that was once their home. The chamber that once held the barrier was now overgrown with weeds breaking through the stone floor. The throneroom/garden had not fared much better, the plants within had grown out of control without the care of the king and the beautifully carved throne was now strangled by vines.

As they left the room Toriel’s could not help but stare down the hall at the room where six lost souls had been laid to their eternal rest. When the barrier was broken she and Asgore had tried in vain to find the families of the fallen children, in order to return their bodies for proper funerals. They had been unsuccessful in doing so, too much time had passed since their disappearance and any family they might once have possessed had scattered to the wind or left the world for an eternal slumber of their own. She wondered if anyone other than her and the king remembered them.

After a moment she shook her head and pulled herself from her reverie, following the others down the hall. They walked through the last corridor in an uncomfortable silence, this place filled Toriel with an unease she could not explain, beside her Sans appeared equally as uncomfortable. 

They took a series of elevators until they reached the large concrete structure that was the lab. Hurrying forward Alphys fumbled with a keycard and the doors slid open, creaking slightly with disuse. “O-over here” Alphys said, walking over to the concealed elevator. The three huddled into the cramped contraption, and Alphys pushed a button.”. A few moments later the trio stepped out into the main laboratory complex. 

The lab had only fallen into further disrepair in the time that it had been vacated. Cobwebs now hung from the ceiling and several ceiling tiles had fallen to the floor. Alphys flicked a switch on the wall and the lights came on, many of them flickering.

The trio made their way through the labyrinthine halls of the lab. As they passed what remained of the DT extractor the reptilian scientist couldn't suppress a shudder, she never did like that thing. They eventually made their way into a room that was dominated by an amalgamation of wires, pipes and screens along one wall. A small heart shaped light glowed at its peak. 

Walking over to the contraption Alphys began flipping switches and typing on a keyboard. “I-I’m gonna start pulling the o-old data off of the m-mainframe. S-sans, you and Toriel g-go to the file room and g-grab any blueprints you t-think w-we’ll need.”. The scientist pointed to a dilapidated door in the wall and handed Sans a keyring. The skeleton and boss monster walked over to the door and after a few moments of fiddling with the lock Sans managed to get it open.

The room inside made the rest of the lab look like a five star hotel, boxes filled with files and papers of dubious legibility lined dusty shelves. Rolls of paper that Toriel vaguely recognized as blueprints were strewn across the floor along with many other papers. The entire room was coated in a thin layer of dust and only one of the fluorescent lights embedded in the ceiling appeared to be working, albeit poorly. 

Sans whistled through his teeth, “Woah, forgot how messy this place was, how much you wanna bet Alphys hasn’t been in here since I quit?”. Toriel sighed, her motherly instincts screaming at her to drag Alphys into the room and force her to start cleaning, “Do you know what we are looking for?” she asked. “Just anything that you think might be useful, anything involving timelines, space, DT, the works.”. Toriel realized that she wasn't likely to get any more clarification than that and resigned herself to skimming through the various documents that littered the room. 

As she worked, she quickly found that many of the documents and blueprints were unrelated to what they were there for. Most were explanations or schematics for bizarre contraptions who’s purpose she could only guess at, some resembled computers, others robots, one or two bore diagrams of draconic skulls. The queen continued sifting through the papers, occasionally setting aside things that seemed important or relevant. 

Across the room Sans seemed to be having more success, he had amassed a small pile of blueprints and folders. As he worked he found an odd report written in a language he did not recognize, shrugging he threw it on the trash pile. The two worked silently save for the sound of rustling papers. 

Eventually Sans pulled a roll of blueprints off of a shelf and perked up when he recognized them. “Ha!” he said, “got it.”. “Good” Toriel replied, “Then shall we see how Dr. Alphys is managing?”. 

“Sure” the short skeleton said, “but grab the stuff you got just in case, don't wanna come back down here if we don’t have to.”. The two monsters gathered up the documents they had found before heading out of the room to rejoin Alphys with Sans taking the time to lock the door.

The two looked to where Dr. Alphys was hard at work, only to see that in the time they had been in the storage room she had gutted the machine against the wall. The scientist went about her task with a ferocity and determination that was much unlike her usual demeanor. She ran around the machine, sawing through welds, and disconnecting wires and pipes like a lioness dismembering a gazelle. 

A few minutes later there was a loud shearing sound as the machine came loose from the wall completely, the bottom section falling to the floor with a loud boom. “Uh.” Sans began, “whatcha doin?”. “I-I can’t g-get the files off!” the frustrated lizard said, “s-screw it, i-im just gonna take the w-whole thing up t-t- the surface!”. As she spoke, the scientist pulled out her cellphone, and a few moments of furiously pressing buttons there was a flash of light and the machine was gone.”.

Sans whistled, “I see you upgraded the dimensional storage system. Couldn't have done that sooner?”. Alphys flushed, “I-Its still a work in p-progress, this i-is the only working p-prototype”. Sans chuckled, “relax” he said with a wink, “i’m just ribbing ya”. The pun earned a sigh from the lizard and a chuckle from the boss monster behind him. 

“D-did you get what w-we needed?” Alphys asked, “Yep, lotta dust in there by the way. You been killing people in your basement without me?” Alphys huffed, “I-Its not my fault, I-I havent b-been down here for a while”. Toriel cleared her throat, “while I am also glad that we have obtained what you need, perhaps we should get going? It is getting late.”. 

Sans shrugged, “sure thing, this place gives me the creeps.”. The trio made their way to the elevator that led to the castle. As they crowded inside, Alphys pressed the up button and mumbled to herself, “I k-keep f-forgetting this is h-here”. The trio made their way back though the castle and out of the mouth of the cave. Toriel sighed as she took in a deep breath of the cool, fresh air. Letting it out, she turned to the other monsters who seemed similarly relieved to be out of their old home. “What are your plans now if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well” Sans began, “I’m gonna start goin over these old blueprints and start figuring out a way to upgrade my old scanner, Alph’s gotta get the file off the old mainframe. It’ll probably be a while until we get any actual data, sorry but you can’t rush science.”. “No worries” Toriel said, “I hope that you find what you are looking for. Sans laughed “we gotta figure out what we’re looking for first but thanks.”. 

The monsters made their way down the slopes of Mt. Ebbot, and to the place where they had parked their respective vehicles before saying their goodbyes and departing for the comfort of home.

  
\-------------------

Deep underground, the exit to the ruins was silent save for a soft draft blowing through the now open door. Nobody was there to see or to hear, but slowly, as though they were being drawn by an invisible hand several scorch marks formed on the walls and floor of the corridor.


	24. Chapter 23: See You Later

_You awake feeling exhausted and stuffy, like you just had a long nap that was anything but restful. The muscles in your limbs throb in tandem with your head and you squeeze your eyes shut tighter against the discomfort. You are laying on something you don't immediately recognize. It feels hard, but somewhat malleable like rubber, giving slightly as you press your sore body deeper into it. This is alright, you don't think that anyone will mind if you just lay here awhile._

_You faintly register the sound of soft sniffles, you're not alone. Groaning, you crack open your eyes and your heart skips a beat. You are surrounded by darkness, a world of shadows stretches as far as the eye can see. You’re briefly reminded of the last time you found yourself in a place like this, and the nightmare that followed but the train of panic is halted before it can make it past the first station. This darkness doesn't feel like it did before, it isn't as cold for one. This void feels warm, the endless black expanse seems softer and less rigid, it would almost be comforting if it wasn't for how alien your surroundings were._

_You hear the same faint sound as before, like someone is trying to cry as quietly as possible. You manage to get your legs underneath you and stand up, swaying slightly in place and clutching your dizzy head with one hand. Turning around, you come face to face with your self proclaimed “best friend”. For a moment all you see is the white fur, and you almost cant stop yourself from throwing yourself away from him to dodge the vicious attack that is surely coming to cleave you in two and ripyouapartoverandoverandoveragain!_

_You stumble in place with a gasp and the young monster before you finally notices your presence. His head shoots up to look at you so fast that his ears swing and bat him in the face, “You’re finally awake!” he says a small smile appearing on his face as he takes a step towards you… and you take a step back. He seems to notice your wariness and halts his advance, waving his palms in front of his chest placating, “nonono dont worry Chara I’m not gonna hurt you!”. He probably notices the doubtful look on your face and his smile slips off his._

_He shrinks into himself slightly, looking down to stare at his feet, he looks so small and pitiful, is this really the same monster that killed you over and over just for fun? He looks back up at you, his expression meek and full of shame. “I know… I know you’re not really Chara are you? Chara’s been gone a long time…” his brows furrow “what… what is your name?”_

_You stare at him uncomprehendingly, what does he mean your name? You… you don't have a name… you’re just… ‘The Human’... you can't remember a time when you were called anything else. You rack your brain, your frustration growing as you come up empty, what is your name? What… you can’t remember you dully accept, you can’t remember anything about what your life was like. No family, no home, no birthday, no favorite food, no friends, no school, no name. The earliest you can remember is waking up on that flowerbed… everything else is just… blank. you honestly don’t know if you even had a life before this, before running around dying over and over again, trial and erroring your way through every monster in your path. Maybe you’ve just been down here for so long that you forgot… maybe it never existed in the first place, maybe that flowerbed was the place where you were born._   
  
_The child stares at you expectantly, his curiosity morphing into concern as you go longer and longer without giving an answer, that concern growing as hot tears begin to drip down your cheeks. “Are… are you okay?” he asks, and you shrug because honestly you don't know. You open your mouth to answer his earlier question. “I-I don’t k-know” the words come out garbled and hoarse, it feels like it's been forever since you last spoke, “I… can’t remember.”_

_The concern on his face melts into shock, “You can’t remember your own_ name _!” he cries “that’s horrible!” you just shrug because it doesn't seem all that important, you’re just ‘the human’, that's all you’ve needed to be until now. “I can't remember anything” you say, “sorry.”. “Don't be sorry.” he says, “if anyone should be apologizing it's me… I understand if you can’t forgive me.”._

_...Can you forgive him?_

_You… can't._

_The revelation feels bad, painful, you feel like you should, it's your job isn't it? What everyone wants from you? You’re ‘the human’ you’re supposed to be everyone's friend. It's the only thing that's kept you alive. You come to a decision._

_“I f-forgive you!” you blurt out and you feel even worse about the lie than you did about the truth._

_He smiles sadly at you, you don't think he believes you. “Aw… you, you’re gonna make me cry again!”. The two of you stand there in silence for a few moments, the only residents of this country of shadows. “I cant stick around,” he says finally, “the souls… they’re all that's letting me keep this form but, i cant keep them… they don't belong to me.”. You aren't sure how to react to this news, but you feel the need to do something. After a moment's hesitation you walk forward and wrap your arms around him. He’s warm, it reminds you of that one time Toriel hugged you in the Ruins._

_A few moments later he pulls away, “I have to go now” he says, “but don't worry! You’re gonna do just fine, I can feel them you know. All the souls, everyone… they all really care about you.”. You’re even less sure how to react to this news. They care about you?_

_Suddenly you begin to feel drowsy, and your legs collapse under you. The child catches you and lowers you to the ground, “My name’s Asriel by the way… I know you said you can’t remember yours, so do you mind if I think of one for you?” Despite the sleep that threatens to overtake you you manage to smile up at him and nod. You’d like that. Finally you are unable to fight sleep off anymore and you close your eyes, letting the warm darkness drag you down to someplace deep and dreamless._

_…_

_…_

_Frisk! Please wake up! This is all just a bad dream!_

\--------------------------

You awaken laying on something soft. You feel sore and tired, there is a strange tightness in your chest, almost painful. As you lay there the tightness gradually fades, but the soreness remains, making you feel tired despite the fact that you just woke up. 

Deciding to ignore it you sit up, rub the sleep from your eyes and yawn. From somewhere behind you you hear humming and you peer over the back of the couch and into the kitchen. Asgore is busying himself brewing a pot of tea in the kitchen. Turning around he notices you and his expression brightens, “Good morning little one” he says, carrying a tray with him and taking a seat beside you. 

“You had a nightmare last night” the old king says, “as such I elected to let you sleep in, Toriel will be around to take you home shortly.”. You nod, smiling up at him. The monster places the tray in his hands down on the coffee table to reveal its contents to be a pot of tea as well as some biscuits. The two of you eat mostly in silence, occasionally Asgore comments or inquires about your life and you ask him about gardening and how things are coming along for him. 

When you finish your breakfast Asgore suggests that you get dressed, and you offer no complaint, changing into your clothes. Returning to the living room Asgore holds up your braces and you grimace. You don't offer any complaint as you let him strap the uncomfortable supports to your legs, hopefully soon you won't need them anymore, but until then the members of your makeshift family have been absolutely uncompromising in making sure you wear them at all times. 

No sooner has he finished tightening them than the doorbell rings. Asgore hurries to open it, with you trailing a few steps behind. The king opens the door to reveal your adoptive mother. “Hello!” Toriel exclaims when she sees you, “Did you enjoy your stay with Asgore?”. You offer her a smile and nod, despite the still present soreness and the nightmare you woke from the night before you feel well rested. “That is good” she says “why don't you go and collect your things and we will be off.”.

A few minutes later you are sitting in the back of Toriel's van, watching the scenery go by as she drives down the road. The ride is fairly uneventful, broken up only by the occasional snail fact Toriel spouts to fill the silence. By the time you pull into the driveway of Toriel’s cottage, it’s past noon. You wonder what you will do for the rest of the day, maybe Flowey will tell you another story, he has a lot of those. 

Speaking of the flower…

You get out of the car and Flowey pops out of the ground in front of you, you have no idea how he got out of his pot, but the house isn't destroyed so it couldn't have been too much of a struggle. The flower has one of the leaves on his stem wrapped around a comically small suitcase, sized just for him. He looks up at you with a faintly annoyed look on his face “Finally!” he says, “I've been waiting for you for about…” he pretends there is a watch on his leave before continuing, “about fifteen minutes.”. 

“What's going on?” you ask, and he scowls, “I would think that's pretty obvious, I’m leaving!”. You stare at him, “what do you mean? Where are you going?”. If the monster before you could look any more exasperated it would be an impressive feat. “Look, it's not that it hasn't been fun and all, it was nice catching up… or at least not terrible, I just dont think I should stick around for two long… you know how it is, you play house for long enough and then you start murdering people again.”. 

You don't know how it is actually, but you begrudgingly accept that it isn't really in your power to stop him. But still… “Promise to visit” you say, and he rolls his eyes, “fiiiine, but only if there’s pie.”. “I believe that can be arranged” Toriel chimes in, from behind you. 

You and Flowey regard each other for a few moments, you wrack your mind, trying to think of something to say but come up empty. You’re going to miss him, hopefully he visits soon. “See you around Frisk” he says finally before popping into the ground and disappearing, suitcase and all. Toriel lays a sympathetic hand on your shoulder, smiling down at you before going inside, leaving you to your thoughts.

…

“See you later Asriel.” you whisper.

\----------------

  
Snowdin had changed little since the barrier broke. The town was almost identical to how it was six months prior, even the gyftmas tree remained untouched, the presents beneath it unopened, abandoned in their recipients haste to leave their old homes behind.

The house that once belonged to the skeleton brothers had been preserved perfectly, the christmas lights hanging from the room shining as brightly as ever. The shed beside it had not fared as well. Already old and shoddily built, part of the room had collapsed, and snow and ice had accumulated in every crack of the damp wood. 

It was unknown, if amongst all of this damage and disrepair, anyone would have noticed the scratches and grooves tracing themselves into the inside of the door.


	25. Chapter 24: Alphys

Newer home was in many ways the ideal place to live, the many diversely shaped houses and buildings spread over the mountainside in a disorganized sprawl save for the singular main road that cut through the chaotic neighborhood like a knife through something knives are particularly good at cutting. Dozens of small shops and restaurants lay sprinkled throughout the town ensuring that one was always in walking distance of some good food and dubiously acquired merchandise. Every evening the sun would bathe the mountainside in warm yellows and oranges making the sunset just as beautiful as the first time the town’s residents saw it. But for Alphys the best parts lay in the fine details.

Like how the nearest OSHA office was two hundred miles away.

  
  


The room was filled with the groans of heavy machinery, the air burnt hotter than the desert as the immense heat released by the contraption before her threatened to scorch her home off the face of the earth. The device was a hulk of metal, a giant amorphous mass of wire and steel. A loud hissing sound filled the air as steam flowed through pipes of dubious purpose to power the massive contraption before her. Slowly the machine unfurled, metal plates shifting and moving to form an opening like the maw of some eldritch creature from Flowey’s best nightmares.

As it did power began to coalesce within its gaping mouth creating an extradimensional vortex that threatened to tear the fabric of reality apart at the seams. Then, all at once the vortex collapsed, releasing a beam of energy that threatened to blind the reptilian scientist, papers and parts flying around the workshop. The beam directed itself downwards, focusing all of its immeasurable power on the beat up laptop below it. As the dust and debris cleared an emotionless mechanical voice echoed throughout the chamber causing the good doctor to slump with relief. 

“Browser history successfully deleted”

The lizard monster sighed as she removed the beat up goggles from her face and went about inspecting the machine to insure that it hadn’t been damaged in the great battle between good and evil that had just taken place, after ensuring that the contraption was intact, she turned her attention to the second, smaller but arguably much more important device. 

Alphys scowled at what remained of the mainframe, she had tried every manner of dastardly sciences in an attempt to reveal its secrets but the lump of metal remained steadfast and stubborn against her best efforts. She supposed that it was to be expected, the mainframe was but one half of a whole, long repurposed to do things other than what it was designed for, it seemed that the mysteries of time and space would have to wait for another day. Still, her latest internet safari had given her all sorts of deviant ideas, maybe if she…

The saurian scientist was just about to grab her chainsaw when a light on the wall began flashing. Alphys sighed, giving her gasoline powered partner in crime one last longing look before resignedly grabbing a fire extinguisher from a pallet full of them and trudging over to the elevator. Minutes later she emerged from her lair and into the house proper, greeted as usual by an abundance of smoke and mad cackling coming from the kitchen. 

The sprinkler system had dutifully gone off but it was making little headway against the raging inferno that had surrounded the (thankfully) fireproof oven and most of the counters. Standing at the center of the chaos Undyne (predictably) laughing madly as she supervised the human child stirring the pot of sauce in front of her. Frisk was standing on a stool to reach the top of the oven and was stirring so fast that the pulverized tomato was threatening to slosh out of the pot and onto the fireproof but unfortunately not sauce-proof oven. Neither party noticed her and Alphys decided that it was best not to interrupt them and instead set about bringing the blaze under control while watching the comedy of food-based errors in the other half of the kitchen out of the corner of her eye.

A few minutes later the house was no longer in danger of burning down and Frisk had tired of the excessive stirring, allowing the amazonian fish hovering over their shoulder to eagerly step forward and take their place. The scientist waved at the child, not bothering to try and make herself heard over the loud clanging of the spoon and the creaking of the exhausted sprinklers. Frisk motioned toward the living room and the two of them quickly moved out of the kitchen, eager to reach minimum safe distance from the inevitable sauce explosion that was about to take place. 

The human child promptly collapsed face down on the couch, groaning as their muscles protested from the food related exercise they had just received. Alphys hovered by them for a moment “A-are you a-alright? U-Undyne is pretty h-high energy and Y-you did just f-finish recovering.”. Frisk waved their hand dismissively and rolled over on their back, stretching their legs that were finally free of their braces and of injury “I’m fine, Just tired.”. “A-alright”, satisfied that there were no furious fire throwing boss monsters in her immediate future Alphys parked herself on a beanbag chair next to the couch, “I missed this” Frisk said, “Cooking is fun, even if Undyne tends to break things”. Alphys giggled, “y-you have no idea, I keep h-having to redo the kitchen to make it Undyne-proof b-but she always finds a way to burn it down anyway. 

“S-so are you all unpacked? I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet y-you but I w-was u-uh e-e-experimenting.”. Frisk looked at her, “What were you trying to do?” Alphys looked away, “U-u-uh I was trying to f-fix some old stuff I-I had laying around s-since the u-underground, I wanted to try and d-do it for awhile but n-now I a-actually have the time.”.” Frisk seemed satisfied with the half truth and seemed to drop it, pulling out their phone and clicking away on it and Alphys held back a sigh of relief and pulled out her own.

A few minutes later, a singed and sauce splattered Undyne came walking out of the kitchen, guffawing and holding a burnt platter of what might at one stage of life have been macaroni. “WOOO! That was a workout! Who wants to try it first?”. Frisk and Alphys looked at one another with carefully neutral expressions before each simultaneously pointed at the other. The fish laughed and dumped the platter on the coffee table “Don’t worry, there's plenty to go around!”. She went to sit on the half of the sofa not taken up by Frisk. 

“NO!” Alphys said with a sternness unlike her usual demeanor, “Y-you are NOT getting tomato and ashes on the sofa again! Go u-upstairs and shower!” Undyne shrugged and headed upstairs, stopping to shut the door to the kitchen before the smoke could infiltrate the rest of the house. “Fine, but I expect there to be anime when I get back!”

With Undyne gone, the reptilian scientist and human child stared at one another for a moment and seemed to reach an unspoken agreement. Frisk opened a dimensional box on their phone and promptly slid the culinary war-crime off the platter and into the box with a wet schlopping sound. Replacing the platter on the table they closed the box and did their best to pretend that nothing had happened. Alphys meanwhile went about choosing a movie for the night. The task proved harder than expected having to juggle her tastes, Undyne’s love of violence, and Frisks aversion to it but eventually she managed to find one that seemed to fit in her almost embarrassingly large collection. 

By the time she was done picking an anime film and Frisk was done trying and failing to forget the butchered food, Undyne had finished showering and come down. “ALRIGHT NERDS! Who's ready to get this party STARTED!” she crowed, jumping from the top of the staircase and landing on the couch by Frisk’s feet. She looked at the barren platter and guffawed, “Aw man! You didn't leave any for me! If I'd known you were that hungry I would have made more.” Frisk gave a half hearted shrug and sat up, settling in as Alphys put the dvd in its player. 

The three settled in, and eventually Alphys got up and made popcorn to replace the forsaken dinner. As the night wore on, The disc was exchanged for another, and then another. Alphys often interjected with trivia about what they were watching Undyne cheering at the occasional non-graphic fight scenes. Frisk for their part did their best to pay attention but quickly began drifting off as they passed what would be considered a responsible bedtime for their age.   
  


As the movie ended, the two monsters' attention gradually shifted to the snoozing human child who for once seemed to be sleeping peacefully. “Hey Alphys” Undyne said in her best impression of a whisper, “Have you made any headway on that sciencey thing you and Sans were talking about?” Alphys sighed and shook her head, unable to meet the fish woman's gaze. 

“N-no, that thing h-has been repurposed a-and r-reformatted so many t-times I’m not sure there’s anything l-left of the original scanner s-still in it. I-I might just have to p-pull what I can a-and start from s-scratch.”. Undyne sighed, ‘damn, I was hoping… well I guess I was hoping for some sort of miracle cure for all this timeline stuff…”

“M-miracle cure?” Alphys asked, looking up at Undyne. “Yeah”, Undyne said, “I dunno, I guess I… we all forgot right? I was hoping maybe there was a way to make Frisk forget too…”. Undyne winced as if struck “I-I know how that sounds, but… I mean… at least that way they wouldn't have to deal with it right? They wouldn't have any more of those nightmares and they could just… move on. And I know its not right, I know it's selfish to wish for something like that but…”.

Alphys blinked, unsure if she was more surprised by what Undyne had said or by how nervous she sounded. “I-I… I don't think its selfish at all” Alphys said, “I wish we could take that away from them too… but w-we can’t… and even if we could… I dont think we s-should. But I don't think it's selfish t-to want them to be a-able to move o-on.”.

“I guess”, “I just wish they could talk to someone about it… I mean they don't want to talk to us… and I don't blame them but maybe if they had someone...”. Alphys scratched at her crest, buried deep in thought. “Y-you know… I know some humans have professionals that help them with that sort of thing… give them advice and listen to them about things they don't-feel comfortable telling the p-people they are c-close too.

Undyne perked up, “Maybe we can find Frisk someone like that? I mean it would need to be someone they know but not too well, probably a monster, I mean no human would believe us about all this timeline stuff.”. “I-I guess there’s no harm in p-pitching it to the others, I-I’ll text the group chat.”

Alphy’s picked up her phone and quickly sent a message to the group chat the monsters had formed several weeks ago. She was about to set down her phone before it buzzed with a new message. “S-sans says he might k-know someone who can h-help. He says h-he’ll talk to him t-tomorrow.”. “That was fast” Undyne said, “is there anyone Sans doesn't know?”. Alphys seemed to think about it a moment before shrugging, “I-Its Sans… he gets around.”.

\--------------------

  
  
“Are you shitting me?” Burgerpants said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE!


End file.
